Starting from this Friday, SME Development Finance Corporation (SDFC) will temporarily halt accepting loan applications until February 2021. This is in order to close its finances and further improve the quality of its services.
SDFC announced that they will resume accepting loan applications on 1st February 2021.
SDFC has disbursed loans worth MVR 395 million to 285 small and medium-sized businesses this year, across 144 islands. About 33 percent of those loans were specially reserved for women and youth. The majority of the loans facilitated by SDFC this year were for parties within the tourism sector and commercial businesses.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the global economy to its core, this year has been a difficult year for businesses, freelancers, and self-employed workers alike. SDFC played a huge role in helping sustain these businesses by collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to introduce the “COVID-19 Viyafaari Ehee” loan scheme. The scheme oversaw the distribution of MVR 376.5 million among 2173 parties by 17th December.
