MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CEB, EU Expand Roma Housing Microfinance, Financial Inclusion Program to Bulgaria

The multilateral Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and two EU institutions, the European Parliament and the European Commission, recently launched the Housing and Empowerment for Roma (HERO) program in Bulgaria. As part of the program, Tokuda Bank, which is based in the Bulgarian city of Sofia, will provide 200 members of the Roma community with microloans totaling EUR 490,000 (USD 550,000) as well as financial literacy training. The purpose of the loans is to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ADB Raises $20m Through Bond Issue in Kazakhstan to Support Otbasy Bank Housing Loans to Women, Mainly in Rural Areas

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a Philippines-based multilateral institution, recently raised KZT 8.4 billion (USD 20 million) through bond sales to institutional investors in Kazakhstan to finance loans by the Housing and Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan, which is also known as Otbasy Bank. The bond has a 10-year maturity with a

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Loans $33m to UniCredit for Business, Home Loans in Serbia

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based, government-backed microfinance investor that aims to foster regional development, recently announced that it has provided loans totaling EUR 25 million (USD 33 million) to UniCredit Serbia to support its small enterprise lending operations and its homes and housing improvement program [1].