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A boost for Moldova’s microfinance sector
EBRD supports Microinvest with $1 million loan
The EBRD is providing the Moldovan microfinance institution Microinvest with a
$1 million loan for on-lending to micro and small enterprises and saving and
credit associations. This is the first loan to Microinvest and it will support
the company’s expansion and diversification. The finance will be accompanied
by technical cooperation funding of up to $100,000 which will be mainly used
to strengthen management capacity, train lending officers and improve IT
systems.
Microinvest was set up in 2003 to provide loans directly to
micro-entrepreneurs with a focus on rural areas. Microinvest has a good reach
and also benefits from flexible and professional staff. The EBRD funding will
support Microinvest’s aim to further extend the scope of its operations and to
diversify its portfolio.
Chikako Kuno, EBRD Director Small Business Group, said the loan will
contribute to the increase of competition in the area and further improve the
quality of services and access to finance. Customers will benefit from greater
efficiency, innovation and better services.
Artur Munteanu, CEO of Microinvest said economic development will struggle in
Moldova without entrepreneurship and easy access to finance. If we believe
that entrepreneurship can be learned, then easy access to finance can be
developed efficiently. Small loans help small clients to create jobs and
become big. We trust small clients and we see EBRD trusting us.
The loan to Microinvest comes under the EBRD’s Non-bank Microfinance
Institutions Framework for Early Transition Countries (ETC) which aims to
strengthen microfinance institutions in eight of the Bank’s countries of
operations. Loans are provided for on-lending to the smallest borrowers across
the ETC countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic,
Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The facility is accompanied by a
technical cooperation framework funded by donor governments.
Through its micro and small enterprises programmes, the EBRD has supported
over one million small enterprises throughout eastern Europe, Russia, Central
Asia and the Caucasus. The EBRD currently works with over 70 commercial banks
and non-bank microfinance institutions to establish or expand specialised
micro and small business finance units and to date has lent $846 million to
facilitate close to $14 billion in loans to micro and small businesses in the
region.
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