The National Government plans to prevent at least one million micro-businesses, of the estimated 4.9 million that exist in the country and have not had access to the financial sector, from continuing to fall into the networks of the so-called drop by drop or paid daily.
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In this project, the Bicentennial Group, created in 2019, since through this one million loans will be channeled in the present four-year period, which seeks coverage of 20 percent of those micro-businesses that today do not have access to formal loans, as well as to other products and financial services.
According to EL TIEMPO, the structuring of a pilot plan is advancing, which will be announced at the end of March in a large financial inclusion forum, in which Jose Antonio Ocampo, Minister of Finance, will detail the entire strategy on that front planned by the Government, and which was outlined in the National Development Plan 2022-2026 ‘Colombia, world power of life’.
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Strategy that will also be articulated with the financial sector with which the Government has already had several meetings to see how this credit inclusion initiative will be launched, according to sources from the Ministry of Finance.
Said plan has four fundamental axes that will also allow strengthening the so-called popular economy in which the administration of Gustavo Petro. The first has to do with promoting financial inclusion, but in a particular way; credit, so that there is more access to formal loans by the millions of micro-businesses that exist in the country. A second axis is innovation and entrepreneurship; the third concerns green finance and, finally, a pillar of infrastructure and sustainability.
“Everything responds to a schedule, where first a diagnosis is made, we measure the current market, the needs and the barriers of public policy. But, in addition, what is the offer that we have, through our companies, and we review what the private sector is doing in each of these issues”, explained the Treasury source.
Advances in microcredit
The international experience is also analyzed to have a great diagnosis and based on all this information, design the definitive strategy, which will be ready between May and June.
The largest in this plan are on the side of microcredit advances, where there are specific goals for the four-year period, such as irrigating a million microloans.
What the Government has in mind, which is precisely what is being finalized and will be announced in a few weeks, is that several of the entities that are now part of the Bicentennial Group, in an articulated manner or grant the credits through various lines and modalities, offer guarantees, provide advice and guidance to policyholders, so that risks can be minimized in each of the operations carried out.
«We are convinced that it should be like this, we must offer instruments for those segments of the popular economy,» they say in the Treasury, where, in some way, they seek to combat drop by drop, allowing these people to build their credit history, which more forward we open the doors to grow.
Today they are part of the Bicentennial Group Banco Agrario, a first-tier entity; Bancóldex, Findeter, Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) and Finagro, second-tier entities, which offer resources to the market through first-tier financial establishments.
The National Guarantee Fund (FNG), Positiva Compañía de Seguros, and the trust companies Fiducoldex and Fiduagraria are also part of this conglomerate.
But the idea is that others are incorporated; among these, the National Savings Fund (FNA), Previsora Seguros, Fiduprevisora, Icetex and the National Company for the Promotion of Territorial Development (ENTerritorio), which provides advice on the structuring and execution of high-impact programs and projects at the national level.
This group of entities have a patrimonial value close to 15 trillion pesos, of which the nation participates with more than 12 trillion.
But to the extent that the Group is the fundamental base of this plan, it is clear that at some point capital resources will be required to advance its purpose, something that was defined in the Development Plan.
future compounding
According to him Treasury, At this moment, they are looking at how many resources will be needed to support, for example, the credit inclusion stage, to the extent that it is necessary to reach the base of those micro-businesses that have not had access and that today are 69 percent. percent of the total (4.9 million).
“We are working on this watermark with the Banca de las Oportunidades program and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in all those details that are very important on how to reach the people, the segments and the resources that are required, among other details”, they specify in the Treasury portfolio.
The other three axes of this strategy, which are designed more for the medium term, are also key to the extent that they correspond to other initiatives with which the National Government is committed.
In green finance, what is sought is the mobilization of the resources required for the transition towards a low-carbon and sustainable economy. In this sense, programs will be structured to promote agri-food chains and the reindustrialization, always seeking to improve productivity and sustainability in the market, where the development banks we have will be essential.
Another topic has to do with innovation and entrepreneurship. The objective is to support and promote these two aspects through financing, for example, to acquire new technologies in business segments that can contribute to the development of the country’s economy.
The last axis is aimed at strengthening the country’s rural and urban infrastructure and ensuring its sustainability, for which all available instruments of the conglomerate will be used within. There the purpose is to improve the road culture and tourism in terms of services of the various destinations that the country has in this industry.
The origin of the resources
The Government promised, in its Development Plan, to strengthen the Bicentennial Group, to which it will inject resources from the General Budget of the Nation.
The Group will have the task of developing portfolio guarantees for debtors, global funding lines with commissions and compensated rates, incentives for good payment, as well as innovative financial products that adapt to the needs of people, among other instruments, to strengthen the called popular economy.
«The necessary resources for the implementation of these instruments may be transferred from the General Budget of the Nation, according to budget availability and the Fiscal Framework of Mediano Plaza, which will be transferred by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit to the entities of the Bicentennial Group, which will implement the instruments”, indicates article 70 of the plan.
