The president of Colombia’s National Guarantee Fund (FNG), Juan Carlos Duran, announced that the body recognized claims of COP150 billion last year, due to the large number of employers who were unable to meet their financial obligations.
The FNG reported losses of COP8.5 billion in 2009, due to this large number of claims driven by the financial crisis. The fund gave out almost COP5 billion in loans in the year, primarily to small-to-medium businesses. Loans are generally between COP10 million and 40 million.
The fund expects to give out around COP5 billion in loans in 2010, while COP166 billion will be available to support the construction of social housing
The FNG is a government fund, which performs tasks such as backing the mortgage loans of workers in Colombia’s informal economy.
