Banks approved total credit facilities worth Rs 3.58 billion for financing projects of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Mauritius under the SME Financing Scheme from December 1, 2011 to July 31, 2014.
Of this amount, Rs 1.51 billion is in the form of loans, Rs 1.45 billion in the form of overdrafts, Rs 171.5 million in the form of lease finance while Rs 461.5 million appeared under the category of ‘other financing’, according to data provided by the Bank of Mauritius this week.
Overall, banks received 2,791 applications amounting to Rs 4.58 billion for credit facilities under the SME Financing Scheme, of which 146 applications amounting to Rs 332.65 million were rejected.
Furthermore, the amount outstanding at the end of July 2014 amounted to Rs 1.44 billion with Rs 798.1 million for loans, Rs 478.2 million for overdrafts, Rs 101.8 million for lease finance; and finally Rs 66.6 million under ‘other financing’.
According to central bank data, the three banks which received most of the applications were all local banks: Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) and Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank (MPCB).
MCB was a clear leader with 1,381 applications of Rs 2.51 billion received and only 23 applications for Rs 43.99 million rejected while SBM came a distant second with 613 applications to the tune of Rs 609.9 million received, of which 38 applications for Rs 51.38 million were dismissed.
Rounding up the top three, MPCB came far behind both MCB and SBM with 192 applications received for Rs 306.49 million and 38 applications dismissed for a total amount of 107.7 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.
In the latest update, under Budget 2014, former Finance Minister Xavier-Luc Duval announced that the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme had ‘exceeded expectations’.
Building on this success, the government has once more secured the cooperation of the commercial banks which will commit an additional Rs 2 billion to extend the scheme up to 2016, Duval had concluded in his budget speech.
For this year, with Budget 2015 around the corner, it remains to be seen how the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme will fare.
Image: Afkinsider): MCB was a clear leader with 1,381 applications of Rs 2.51 billion received while SBM came a distant second with 613 applications to the tune of Rs 609.9 million received.
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