MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Amret Receives $10m Loan from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW) for Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Cambodia

Amret Microfinance, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI), reportedly has borrowed USD 10 million from German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) for the purpose of expanding Amret’s financing for small businesses in Cambodia. Additional information regarding the terms of the loan, including its duration, is not available.

According to a statement attributed to Gerald Lazer, director of KfW’s Cambodia office, about 8 percent of Cambodian households use official financial services, and less than 43 percent of the country’s micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have active bank accounts [1][2].

As of 2013, Amret reports total assets of USD 251 million, return on assets (ROA) of 4.86 percent, return on equity (ROE) of 26.6 percent, a gross loan portfolio of USD 203 million and approximately 286,000 borrowers. Amret also accepts deposits, and in 2013 reports USD 94.1 million in deposits made in over 130,000 active accounts [3]. KfW reported total assets of EUR 476 billion (USD 651 billion) as of October 2013.

By Benjamin Krupp, Research Associate

About Amret Microfinance

Amret Company Private Limited (Amret), formerly known as Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath (which means “credit in rural area” in English), was established in Cambodia in 1991 as a project of French NGO Groupe de Recherche et D’Echange Technologiques (GRET). It became a private limited company in 2000 and received its license to operate as a microfinance institution (MFI) in 2001. In December 2013, Amret reported to the US nonprofit data provider Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) total assets of USD 251 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 203 million and approximately 286,000 borrowers. As of the same date, the company reported to MIX a return on assets (ROA) of 4.86 percent, return on equity (ROE) of 26.6 percent and collected deposits of USD 94.1 million in approximately 130,000 active accounts.

About Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW)

KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW) is a state-owned development bank in Germany. KfW has three goals: to reduce poverty, to make globalization “fair” and to conserve natural resources. KfW Entwicklungsbank collaborates with local financial institutions in approximately 60 countries, including microbanks, commercial banks, village savings banks, non-governmental organizations and regional microfinance funds. KfW made new financing commitments of EUR 1.7 billion (USD 2.3 billion) through the first three fiscal quarters of 2013 and as of October 2013, reports total assets of EUR 476 billion (USD 651 billion).

Sources and Additional Resources

[1] The Phnom Penh Post: Amret MFI Gets $10M Loan to Aid SME Reach

[2] KFW Bank aus Verantwortung: Office Cambodia

[3] Amret: Annual Report 2013

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