Like transporters, warehousemen, schools, hairdressers and other businesses, microfinance institutions have also expressed their concern about the wave of crime that is hitting the country. The president of the Peruvian Federation of Municipal Funds (Fepcmac), as well as Caja Huancayo, Jorge Solís, explained that there are some places where the offer of formal financing has been displaced by ‘drop by drop’.
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“The ‘drop by drop’ breathes down our necks and is controlling some areas. What we have seen is that when the business advisor goes to those places, the ‘drop by drop’ has already given them the loan and they charge in a way that puts the lives of those people at risk. Little by little they are gaining more ground. Two years ago we warned that they had placed S/1,000 million in the market, today they already have S/4,000 million,” said Solís.
Likewise, he stated that, although so far no microfinance entity has had to withdraw from its district or point of operation due to the presence of criminal gangs, there is concern that this could happen soon.
“Crime is gaining ground and we run the risk of what happened in El Salvador happening, where there were liberated areas that were controlled by these criminals and formal banking did not enter. So, at some point, it may happen that the formal ones have to give up space,” he warned.
Solís indicated that the criminal modality called ‘gota a gota’ began to gain ground in the country as a consequence of Law 31143, approved by Congress, which establishes caps on interest rates. He said that this harmed more than 540,000 users, who were exposed to informal loans and were victims of extortion and murder, for which he urged Congress to repeal the rule.
Another concern that exists in the sector is that the increase in crime means a setback in the drop in loans from entities, according to Jorge Solís.
In that sense, he pointed out that the Christmas campaign is put at risk if the authorities do not do something about it to stop the crimes that hit Peru.
“There is uncertainty because people invest less and there are no expectations that this will be a big Christmas campaign like we have had in previous years. People are beginning to be more conservative with their expenses, therefore, businesses sell less,” he explained.
“If there is no response from the Government and Congress, business sales could fall between 30% and 50%. We need a security plan that gives confidence,” he added.
They look for solutions
Jorge Solís referred to the bills that proposed incorporating the crime of urban terrorism. He considered that the most important thing is that a solution be found. “It doesn’t matter if they call it terrorism, organized crime, the important thing is that there is a strong hand,” he added.
In that sense, he called on the authorities to take actions related to the creation of more prisons, faceless courts and the departure of the military to the streets.
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