Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2020
441. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if she will provide details of the total number of applications received to date in the Covid-19 business loan scheme administered by Microfinance Ireland; the number of applications which have been made by businesses in the agrifood sector; the number of same that have been approved and refused, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11321/20]
View answerThe Covid-19 Loan, available from Microfinance Ireland (MFI), was introduced as a support to microenterprises to help them access funding arising from the Covid-19 crisis.
These loans are available for eligible microenterprises responding to Covid-19-related difficulties, the negative impact of which must be a minimum of 15% of actual or projected income or profit. Loans up to €50,000 are available with terms that include a six months interest free and repayment free moratorium, with the loan to then be repaid over the remaining 30 months of the 36-month loan period.
MFI provides vital support to microenterprises by filling the lending gap in the market by lending to business that cannot obtain loans from other commercial lenders. It lends to business that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial lenders and applies interest rate charges for its lending which are not reflective of its credit risk.
Standard loans from Microfinance Ireland have interest rates of between 6.8% and 7.8%. Given the cost burden to businesses even with these subsidised rates of interest I decided to apply a substantial reduction in the interest rate to 4.5% on the Covid-19 loans provided by MFI. This reduced rate is available to all micro-enterprises where the application is made through the Local Enterprise Network or referred by a bank or Local Development Committees. The new rate for direct applications to MFI is reduced to 5.5%.
A table of the supports that are available to assist businesses address the challenges posed by the COVID -19 crisis, together with details of uptake of such supports, is available on the Department's website, https://dbei.gov.ie/en/Publications/Take-up-of-DBEI-COVID-19-Business-Supports.html. This list is updated every week in consultation with Business Units with the updated table published on the Department's website by lunchtime on Mondays.
There were 103 applications received from the agrifood sector, of which 19 were refused and 84 were approved for a value of €2,224,833.
I can assure the Deputy that I continue to work with my colleagues across Government to examine further supports to assist businesses impacted by Covid-19.
