MVR 14 m loans have been requested for development of SMEs: Economic Ministry

Ministry of Economic Development has said that loans worth MVR 14 million have been requested under the MVR 23 million loan scheme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) introduced earlier this month.

Speaking at a press conference today, ADB Project Manager of Ministry of Economic Development Lamya Ibrahim said that the MVR 23 million loan scheme for SMEs was introduced on 6 January 2014.

Under this scheme, loans will be given for businesses in the areas of tourism, fisheries, agriculture, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), taxi services, and miscellaneous.

“The loans are divided into six categories including tourism, fisheries and agriculture. A maximum loan amount has been decided for each category. This loan scheme is very popular,” said Lamya.

National Manager of Project Department at the Ministry of Economic Development Ahmed Munavvar said that the least popular area is ICT, for which loans will be provided up to MVR 3 million.

The loans will be provided via Bank of Maldives (BML).