The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services primarily to microfinance institutions, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following local-currency loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 3.9 million to KazMicroFinance LLC (KMF) of Kazakhstan, the equivalent of USD 550,000 to Bereke of Kazakhstan, and the equivalent of USD 660,000 to Vasham of Indonesia.
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Targeting Rural MSEs, EFSE Lends Local-currency Equivalent of $6m to Opportunity Bank Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently announced it will loan RSD 615 million (USD 6 million) to Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a branch of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, “to support small businesses, especially in rural areas.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Funding $2.3m in Microenterprise Loans in Bosnia and Herzegovina via Mi-Bospo, Half in Rural Areas
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently announced it will loan EUR 2 million (USD 2.3 million) to Microcredit Foundation Mi-Bospo, a non profit microfinance institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Fund to Guarantee $6m in Credit Lines Extended by Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka (CKB) to 700 Microentrepreneurs in Montenegro
The European Investment Fund (EIF), a member of the EU-backed European Investment Bank Group, and Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka AD (CKB), a member of Hungary’s OTP Group, recently partnered to provide financing to “up to 700 Montenegrin micro-borrowers.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, TaiwanICDF Lending $4m to Moldovan Express Leasing
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development institution, recently announced it will loan USD 4 million to Express Leasing and Microcredit, a non-bank financial institution in Moldova that has been owned by US-based private equity firm NCH Capital Group since 2009.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNDP Offers Training for Women, Youth Entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recently launched the third phase of a program aimed at empowering youth and women entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF) Loans $1.7m in Kyrgyzstan to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC), Oxus
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending loans totaling the following amounts in phases over three years: the euro equivalent of USD 1.15 million to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC) and the euro equivalent of USD 574,000 to Oxus Kyrgyzstan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Lending $11m to Belarus’s Bank Moscow-Minsk for MSMEs
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development institution, recently announced it will loan EUR 20 million (USD 23 million) to the Bank Moscow-Minsk, which is owned by the National Bank of Belarus.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AlHuda, Azerbaijan’s SER Agree to Promote Islamic Finance in the Caucasus
Two NGOs, the Pakistan-based AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking & Economics (CIBE) and Azerbaijan’s Studying of Economic Resources (SER) Public Union recently announced they will collaborate to promote Islamic finance in Azerbaijan and other countries in the Caucasus region.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Lending $5.6m to Romania’s Garanti Leasing to Finance Women-owned SMEs
Garanti Leasing, a subsidiary of the Garanti Group Romania specializing in financing real estate, vehicles and agricultural equipment, recently announced it will borrow EUR 5 million (USD 5.6 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, in order to increase funding for women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raises $18.5m for Georgia’s TBC Bank via MSME Bond Platform
Tbilisi Business Center (TBC) Bank, Georgia-based commercial bank, recently announced that it has raised GEL 45 million (USD 18.5 million) from one or more unidentified investors via the MSME bond platform of Symbiotics SA, a Swiss investment services provider focused on micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Russian Government Considers Lowering Annual Interest Rate Cap for Payday Loans from 600% to 150%
The government of Russia recently prepared legislation that would cut the maximum effective rate on payday loans of less than RUB 30,000 (USD 505) from 600 percent to 150 percent per annum.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD to Lend $11m to Kazakhstan’s Kassa Nova Bank for MSMEs, Women Entrepreneurs
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development institution, recently announced it will extend a credit line equivalent to USD 11 million in Kazakhstani tenge to Kassa Nova Bank. Kassa Nova will allocate USD 6.6 million of the total to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) located outside of major metropolitan areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Lending $23m for MSMEs in Romania via Banca Transilvania’s BT Leasing
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development institution, recently announced it will loan EUR 20 million (USD 23 million) to Romania’s Banca Transilvania (BT) Leasing to finance micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $17m to Romania’s Agricover for Lending to Small, Medium-sized Agricultural Businesses
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced it will loan RON 70 million (USD 17 million) to Agricover Credit, a non-banking financial institution in Romania, to boost the financial inclusion of farmers as well as small and medium-sized agribusinesses in Romania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Uzbekistan Borrows $500m from ADB to Build 29k Rural Housing Units Mortgaged by Ipoteka Bank, National Bank of Uzbekistan, Qishloq Qurilish Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a Philippines-based multilateral institution, recently announced it will issue a loan of USD 500 million as part of an effort to build 29,000 new “affordable” houses in rural parts of nine regions of Uzbekistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EIB Group’s DCFTA Initiative East, InnovFin Supporting SMEs in Georgia, Moldova, the Ukraine; ProCredit Secures $56m Partial Loan Guarantee
Both arms of the EU-affiliated EIB Group, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), are implementing two programs intended to fortify the private sectors of Georgia, Moldova and the Ukraine [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FINCA Armenia Completes $7m Dual-currency Bond Issue
FINCA Armenia, a microfinance institution based in Yerevan, recently issued bonds worth USD 4 million and AMD 1.5 billion (USD 3 million) listed on the NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange.