Hong Kong Monetary Authority task force to help SMEs struggling to repay loans

Industry leaders express doubts over plan’s effectiveness and say businesses may fear that banks will cancel loan agreements

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The city’s de facto central bank has said it will put together a team from among its staff to help small and medium-sized enterprises. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:57pm, 19 Aug 2024Updated: 11:14pm, 19 Aug 2024

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will set up a task force to help small and medium-sized businesses facing pressure to repay loans, but industry leaders have expressed doubts over the measure as enterprises might fear having their lending cut.

The city’s de facto central bank said on Monday that it would put together a team from among its staff to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to its deputy CEO Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang.

“The SMEs can contact the HKMA directly through our hotline and emails, which we set up earlier. The HKMA will soon set up a task force to follow up on their cases,” he told the Post in a reply.

He added that further details about the task force would be shared at a later stage.

Concerns about the challenges faced by such businesses have remerged after real estate industry representatives met authorities earlier this month to discuss the tightening of property loans by banks amid a struggling post-pandemic recovery.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce also revealed in a recent survey that 74.3 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses polled cited cash flow as their biggest challenge in the coming 12 months.