Usury is actually illegal in the Philippines but majority of the Indians in Metro Manila depends on the lending business called 5-6. What it means is you borrow 5 and you pay 6, practically it is 20% interest per month although some Indian lender relent to haggling that they lower their rate to 20% per 2 months. We had just elected a new president who declared that the 5-6 scheme of lending will be stopped otherwise... that's a threat that lenders cannot ignore. My question is this - what would happen to small businessmen who borrow from the Indians as supplemental capital? Most market vendors say they can buy goods to sell because of those borrowings.
