Cuban bank to offer business loans

Cuban bank to offer business loans
AAP

Cuba's growing ranks of the self-employed will be able to apply for
unsecured loans of up 10,000 pesos ($A535) under a new program devised
by state-owned savings bank BPA, the official AIN news agency said
Wednesday.
The "collateral" for the loans will be in the form of a linked savings
account, BPA executive Greicher La Nuez told AIN.
She said the account would grow as the debt was repaid - if the payment
is 200 pesos a month, 50 pesos will remain in the account - and the
accumulated amount can serve as collateral for another loan once the
first is paid off.
Prospective borrowers will have to submit a business plan for "rigorous
analysis" and the applicant's background will also be reviewed.
The new flexibility benefiting "the growing economic sector" of the
self-employed also includes extending the pay-off period for loans from
five to 10 years, lowering the minimum loan amount and reducing
documentation requirements.
BPA has also authorised municipal branch directors to grant loans for up
to 100,000 pesos, up from the earlier limit of 50,000 pesos, without
getting approval from upper management.
By the end of July, 2,482 self-employed people had applied for business
loans, AIN said, though adding that the volume remains low given the
growth of the private sector as a result of economic reforms launched by
the government of President Raul Castro in 2010.
The number of the self-employed in Cuba surpassed 500,000 by the end of
May, according to official data.
The expansion of self-employment and small business is a key part of
Castro's plan to "update" the island's socialist economic model.

Source: Cuban bank to offer business loans - Yahoo7 Finance Australia -
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/cuban-bank-offer-business-loans-004208675.html