Micro-businesses become delinquent on outstanding loans at double-digit interest rates

According to the latest delinquency report presented by Equifax and Emprende UP, the micro-businesses They appear as one of the sectors with the highest participation within the delinquent group with almost 26%. Regarding this situation, Percy Krapp, president of the Small Business Guild of the Lima Chamber of Commerce, assures that, due to the pandemic, many entrepreneurs have not been able to meet their payment objectives because they have not been able to save for it.

“In normal times, microentrepreneurs go from campaign to campaign, that generates their income and, according to those sales expectations, they are financed. But we have seen since March 2020 that now they do it to survive. Obviously it is important not to break with the payment chain and there something has been contributed with the financing programs ”, added.

For Krapp, “What we have seen in the past months is that those who had credits they have had to refinance because they did not meet their market growth expectations and that will continue to occur, it is a serious problem that is having solutions only in the short term “, he assured.

For her part, Susana Saldaña, president of the Board of Directors at the Gamarra Peru Business Association, assures that the micro-businessesIn this time of pandemic, they have not had any response or support from the State. “There was no support, less than 5% of businessmen have been able to access Reactiva and FAE-MYPE nor count it. Many of us were refinanced, but at great rates ”.

“Some microentrepreneurs were offered another type of credits because they did not rate Reactiva. Loans at 40% or 60%. That is the problem of delinquency, as they have not had resources, they have not been able to work ”, Saldaña assured.

Financial sector

However, Pilar Flores, manager of the Credit Risk and Liquidity Division of Financiera Confianza, what could be affecting is the impact that the uncertainty scenario, less employment and the ability to pay of clients who have these types of credit have had.

“In the case of micro-businesses the expiration of the credits line of government, that what they do is raise the default. Debtors may understand this credit as a subsidy and this affects the payment culture and they end up in default “, express.

Flores mentions that credits they have three instances, “When the client shows temporary difficulty or delay, as an entity we use the extension. Due to a pandemic we have extended, but in other cases there has been a rescheduling. At the expiration of the latter, if the client is still complicated then a refinancing is generated ”.

Regarding the feeling of microentrepreneurs about the lack of payment opportunity, Flores ensures that “It tries to give the greatest amount of opportunities and facilities to its ability to pay so that it can get ahead.”

“The government should promote the culture of payment because customers tend to think that they do not have to return that money, so if these are not complied with credits, the blackberry is going to rise momentarily “, he claimed.

Sectors on the rise

For Krapp, the tourism sector is the one that has been encouraged much more and now it is supporting clothing, textiles, footwear, which he hopes will join the FAE program-MYPE.

“I doubt that there is a sector that is free of problems, right now there is a lot of incentive with the FAE-Tourism, with the FAE-Agro, but many solutions are still pending. Everything is short term. By financing the micro-entrepreneur you give him power for a few months, but you are not working with him in the long term ”, he pointed out.

For his part, Flores affirms that “The commercial sector is recovering, as well as the agricultural sector, which has not been badly hit. Those who have felt the impact are the textile manufacturers ”.