Bancóldex to loan 35% of portfolio to SMEs

Loans from Colombia's state-owned export development bank Bancóldex to micro, small and medium sized enterprises will probably account for 35% of the bank's total lending by December this year, Bancóldex said in a press release. Currently 32% of Bancóldex' lending is directed to SMEs, compared to only 7% in December 2001, the statement added. Bancóldex' medium-term objective is to direct its activities toward important sub-sectors that are not sufficiently financed by financial institutions. The bank's lending to SMEs rose dramatically in the first half of this year by 99% to 407bn pesos (US$153.4mn) compared to the same period 2003. "The lending portfolio of the bank is migrating from large companies towards those of small and medium size," Bancóldex president Gustavo Ardila Latiff said in a conference. Bancóldex' total loan portfolio is currently worth 3.3tn pesos (US$1.3bn).