Legislative Council Panel on Trade and Industry
SPECIAL FINANCE SCHEME FOR
SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

INTRODUCTION

This paper reports on progress in the operation of the Special Finance Scheme for Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs).

LATEST POSITION

2. As of 8 December 1998, a total of 604 applications under the Scheme have been referred to the Government by participating lending institutions. With the exception of five applications which have been withdrawn by the applicants, all of the applications have been approved with the guarantee approved and loan involved amounting to HK$426 million and HK$862 million respectively.

3. The detailed statistics showing the various aspects of the performance of the Scheme up to 8 December 1998 are set out at the Annex.

WAY FORWARD

4. Since the introduction of the Scheme, the Government has been closely monitoring its progress. We are currently preparing for a comprehensive review of the Scheme in early 1999. The aim of the review is to assess the feedback of the Scheme; whether the Scheme has met its objective of assisting SMEs to obtain financing; and whether and how improvements should be made. We are conducting an opinion survey to collect views from the financial sector and SME practitioners. We shall analyse the feedback collected, together with other comments submitted to the Government by various concerned parties, and formulate our recommendations in early 1999.

Trade and Industry Bureau
December 1998

Annex

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Please refer to Chinese version