EDB included in private banking loan guarantee program
EDB President Ivonne Otero (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
The Economic Development Bank was included Tuesday in the Puerto Rico Development Fund Guarantee Program through an agreement signed with the Government Development Bank, government officials announced.
The program, better known as “Impulso Empresarial” (“Business Promotion”), covers up to 30 percent for new loans and up to 25 percent for loan restructurings and has a maximum term of up to seven years. Interest rates proposed under this program will range from 2 percent to 6 percent above the prevailing prime rate and from 7 percent to 10 percent in fixed interest rates for three to five years.
“This is an unprecedented agreement, through which the EDB will have the opportunity to continue contributing to the development of small and medium businesses on equal footing with private banks,” said EDB President Ivonne Otero-Guzmán. “This contractual agreement allows us to diversify risks, which in turn allows more competitive interests.”
This agreement is in line with the current administration’s mission to incentivize the economy, she said.
Meanwhile, GDB President Juan Carlos Batlle said the EDB’s inclusion in the loan guarantee program “gives it an opportunity to guarantee more loans by diverisifying risk and thus be able to help more people.”
“Our goal is to provide all the tools at our disposal for small and medium businesses to establish and grow their operations,” Batlle said.
The EDB closed Fiscal 2011 with a $208 million loan portfolio.
