NBSSI grants first 1,000 beneficiaries coronavirus stimulus package

A thousand initial qualified applicants of government’s COVID-19 stimulus package received their loans on Wednesday, according to the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

The beneficiaries, the NBSSI said, had the loans transferred to their mobile money wallets on June 24, after successfully going through the rating processes.

The initial disbursements, which are focused on applicants at the lower end of eligible applicants – the micro category – come with an interest rate of three percent, with a moratorium of one year and two-year repayment period.

At a media briefing, to explain the processes of disbursement to the media, Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh said the lower micro category constituted 5.4 percent of total value of funds requested by all applicants.

“We are working around the clock and in close collaboration with participating financial institutions to effect disbursement and so in the coming days increase the numbers per batch disbursement,” she said.

The initial disbursement comes five days after the NBSSI announced a six-day extension of the application deadline to allow businesses that were yet to complete their applications to do so. That extension itself ends today June 26, 2020.

The grace period was meant to give the fund’s management team the opportunity to resolve all technical challenges ranging from applicants with wrong credentials on the system to a mopping up of paper applications that were yet to be entered into the system.

“We now have a good picture and view of information on the application portal hence the beginning of initial disbursement,” she said.

The NBSSI had intensified collaboration with the GRA to facilitate TIN acquisition for all applicants who could be affected by the lack of TIN.

The Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme was instituted by the government to provide support to MSMEs who had been negatively impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. The fund is endowed with GHc1 billion.