SME subsidies slightly pick up

The Macau SAR Government’s support for local young entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) amounted to MOP138.09 million (US$17.20 million) during the first five months of this year, the latest data released yesterday by the Macao Economic Services (DSE) revealed.
During the month of May, a total of MOP19.06 million was disbursed in public support to the three SME schemes – SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, SME Credit Guarantee Scheme Designated for Special Projects, and the SME Aid Scheme.
The figure represents an increase of 11.2 per cent month-to-month when compared to the MOP17.66 million allocated in April.
In particular, DSE loaned MOP5.88 million under the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme and granted MOP13.18 million under the SME Aid Scheme in May, to a total of six (of eight) and 37 (of 70) applicants, respectively (Table 1).
The government did not green light any applications for loans through the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Specific Projects, with the latest two successful applications dating from April, for MOP2 million.
The SME Credit Guarantee Scheme provides each beneficiary with a credit guarantee equal to 70 per cent of the loan approved by the participating banks while a similar scheme for Specific Projects offers credit guarantees of up to 100 per cent of approved bank loans for SMEs to finance special projects. No applications were filed for the latter category in May.

Five months count
In terms of sector of activity, companies applying to the SME Aid Scheme received MOP90.72 million in subsidies during the first five months of the year.
In particular, Retail and Construction & Public Works represented 33 per cent and 16.6 per cent of the total, respectively (see Table 2).
The total amount disbursed in loans under the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme reached MOP25.76 million, while subsidies granted under the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Specific Projects amounted to only MOP2 million during the period.
Loans attributed to import and export trade activities were only slightly up, at MOP1.4 million (5.4 per cent increase year-on year), while grants under the SME Aid Scheme for the same category reached MOP1.86 million (2.1 per cent increase year-on-year).

Young entrepreneurs credit-less
In May of this year, the Macau Government did not approve any of the 24 applications filed under the Young Entrepreneur Aid Scheme.
A month earlier, 14 application proposals were approved, of a total of 21 filed, amounting to MOP3.7 million in subsidies.
During the first five months of 2017, some MOP19.60 million was disbursed to young start-ups.
The most important participation was noted in Retail, accounting for 44.4 per cent of the total, or MOP8.7 million, followed by Services provided to companies, representing 14.8 per cent of the whole amount granted, or MOP2.9 million.