Banks approved total credit facilities worth Rs 4.12 billion for financing projects of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Mauritius under the SME Financing Scheme from December 1, 2011 to October 31, 2014.
Of this amount, Rs 1.79 billion is in the form of loans, Rs 1.62 billion in the form of overdrafts, Rs 193.70 million in the form of lease finance while Rs 522.02 million appeared under the category of ‘other financing’, according to data provided by the Bank of Mauritius, yesterday, November 20, 2014.
Overall, banks received 3,150 applications amounting to Rs 5.19 billion for credit facilities under the SME Financing Scheme, of which 158 applications amounting to Rs 344.79 million were rejected.
Furthermore, the amount outstanding at the end of October 2014 amounted to Rs 1.54 billion with Rs 901.00 million for loans, Rs 474.05 million for overdrafts, Rs 98.29 million for lease finance; and finally, Rs 71.13 million under ‘other financing’.
According to the central bank data, the three banks that received most of the applications were once again all local banks namely Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd (MCB), State Bank of Mauritius Ltd (SBM) and Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank Ltd (MPCB).
MCB was a clear leader with 1,489 applications of Rs 2.70 billion received and only 24 applications for Rs 44.99million rejected while SBM came a distant second with 772 applications to the tune of Rs 829.96 million received, of which 38 applications for Rs 51.38 million were dismissed.
Rounding up the top three, MPCB came far behind the two major banks with 220 applications received for Rs 367.48 million and 45 applications dismissed for a total amount of 116.07 million.
Under Budget 2011, bank support to SMEs was enhanced with schemes for provision for new overdrafts and bank loans as well as renewal of existing ones.
For this year, with Budget 2015 around the corner, it remains to be seen how the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme will fare.
Image: News Dice
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