COLOMBIA: Government launches credit line for land and river transport

Government launches credit line for land and river transport

The Colombian Ministry of Transport signed an agreement with Bancóldex, in order to mitigate the economic effect caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is a preferential line of credit for USD $ 23 million, which may be used to cover working capital needs such as payment of payroll, leases, costs and / or operating expenses or maintenance.

“We have designed a preferential credit solution aimed at maintaining the liquidity of companies and owners while overcoming this situation,” said the Minister of Transportation, Angela María Orozco.

The beneficiaries of this line of credit are companies (individuals or legal entities) drivers and owners of vehicles for transporting passengers by road, road freight, river and mixed transport, and transport terminals.

For his part, the president of Bancóldex, Javier Díaz Fajardo, assured that the loans will provide relief to the liquidity needs of the transport companies by offering “a term of up to three years with a six-month grace period, which favors their cash flow while progress is being made in the country’s economic recovery ”.

It should be clarified that the resources will be disbursed by banks, financial corporations, financing companies, and financial cooperatives with a place in Bancóldex.
Bancóldex’s preferential quota has resources of USD$ 23 million and is divided into two sub-quotas.

The first is aimed at micro, small and medium-sized companies, which will be able to access loans for a maximum value of USD $ 25.000 , USD $ 75.000  and USD$ 250.000, respectively, per company.

On the other hand, sub quota 2 is for large companies that will have a maximum quota of USD $ 375.000.

This does not include companies or concessionaires belonging to mass transportation systems.

Likewise, under the microfinance credit mechanism, the credit line will have a term of up to 24 months and up to 4 months of grace period.

The borrower will benefit from a reduction in the interest rate of at least 2%, with respect to the full rate that the intermediary would have approved under standard market conditions.

In the case of microentrepreneurs, who access through entities oriented to microcredit, the benefit will be at least 5%.

Entrepreneurs of all sizes will be able to make use of the guarantees established by the National Guarantee Fund.

In terms of numbers, Colombia has registered 46,858 confirmed cases to date, 1,545 people died and 18,715 recovered from the Covid-19 virus.

By Noticias Uno