The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending bank of the European Union (EU), and the Government of Luxembourg recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide grants totaling EUR 3.6 million (USD 4.5 million) to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Search Results for: AfDB
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank (EIB) Loans $24.8m to Cooperative Rural Development Bank (CRDB) of Tanzania, Announces $6.2m for Technical Assistance Programmes in East Africa
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the lending bank of the European Union, recently announced that it will issue a loan worth EUR 20 million (USD 24.8 million) to the Cooperative Rural Development Bank (CRDB), a commercial bank in Tanzania, to support small businesses in the agriculture, manufacturing and retail sectors in Tanzania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank (EIB) to Loan $31m to AccessBank Azerbaijan for On-lending to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending bank of the European Union (EU), recently announced that it is extending an intermediated senior loan totaling EUR 25 million (USD 31 million) to AccessBank Azerbaijan, a microfinance bank (MFB) in Azerbaijan, for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Technology Recognized as Tool to Improve Property Rights, Payment Platforms, Reduce Transaction Costs at International Monetary Fund (IMF) Seminar: “Future of Finance – Technology and Financial Inclusion”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a US-based arm of the United Nations, and the US-based World Bank Group, recently held a seminar on technology and financial inclusion as part of its seminar series entitled “The Future of Finance,” panelists discussed the role of technology as a tool to amend market failures in the provision of financial services for low-income people such as via the documentation of property rights and reductions in transaction costs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Establishes 2 Credit Unions Targeting Fishing Industry in Senegal
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a US-based environmental non-governmental organization (NGO), recently announced its establishment of two credit unions geared towards people involved in fishing in the Senegalese villages of Cayar and Popenguine.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD) Announces Potential $25m Risk-sharing Endeavor with Société Générale Serbia for Rural Microenterprise Financing Via VisionFund’s AgroInvest
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, England, recently announced that it is likely to participate in a risk-sharing endeavor totaling RSD 2.3 billion (USD 25 million) with Société Générale Serbia, a subsidiary of the France-based financial institution Société Générale.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Canadian Government Donates $309m to African Development Fund (ADF)
The Canadian Minister of International Development, Christian Paradis, recently announced that the Canadian government will provide CAD 309 million (USD 279 million) to the African Development Fund (ADF), a fund that provides loans and grants to its 40 African member countries, to support the 13th replenishment of ADF’S budget funds.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FirstRand Bank Downscaling into Microfinance in Suburban Mumbai, India
Under a pilot project named “Easy Banking,” FirstRand Bank, a commercial bank based in South Africa, is providing financial services to shops and other small businesses in areas of suburban Mumbai, such as Bandra and Lokhandwala, based on the rationale that competition is too fierce in areas with higher population densities.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Methodist Church of Nigeria to Establish Microfinance Institution (MFI)
The Methodist Church of Nigeria reportedly has announced that it plans to establish a new microfinance institution (MFI) in Nigeria, called Wesley Microfinance Bank Limited (Wesley Microfinance).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group (WBG) Loans $12m, Donates $12m to Government of Mozambique for Financial Sector Reform, Including to Boost Financial Inclusion
The World Bank Group (WBG), a US-based multilateral financial institution recently approved a USD 25 million financing package consisting of a loan of USD 12.5 million and a grant of USD 12.5 million to support the “First Programmatic Financial Sector Development Policy Operation (DPO)”[1] of the government of Mozambique.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 2014 Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) Partnership Forum, June 10-12, 2014, Dakar, Senegal
Event Name: 2014 Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) Partnership Forum
Event Date: June 10-12, 2014
Event Location: King Fahd Palace Hotel, Dakar, Senegal
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UT Bank Ghana Receives $20m Credit Line from African Development Bank to Support Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral institution that provides loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently approved a 3.5-year line of credit in the amount of USD 20 million to UT Bank Ghana Limited (UT Bank), a commercial bank based in Ghana with 26 branches in Ghana and an unavailable number of subsidiary branches in West Africa and Europe.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Financing Africa, Social Performance Indicators for Microinsurance, Segmentation of Agricultural Households
“Financing Africa Through the Crisis and Beyond;” by Thorsten Beck, Samuel Munzele Maimbo, Issa Faye and Thouraya Triki; published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), World Bank Group, African Development Bank; 2013; 322 pages; available at: http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Financing%20Africa%20Through%20the%20Crisis%20and%20Beyond.pdf
This book presents a review of trends in Africa’s financial sector in the context of Africa’s past economic development trends and broader historical background.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kenya-based Gulf African Bank, African Guarantee Fund Partner to Lend $1.2m to Small, Medium-Sized Businesses
The African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a Kenya-based organization backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) that aims to increase financial access in Africa by underwriting commercial bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), reportedly has agreed to guarantee an unspecified portion of KES 100 million (USD 1.2 million) to be loaned by Gulf African Bank (GAB), a Kenya-based bank offering Shari’ah-compliant products and services, to SMEs in Kenya.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: South Africa’s Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) to Disburse $81m to 15,000 Small Businesses
Chief Executive Officer Thankani Makhuvha of South Africa’s Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), a government-funded entity, has reportedly stated that the organization intends to disburse approximately ZAR 737 million (USD 81 million) in loans to 15,000 small businesses in South Africa during the year ending March 31, 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, International Finance Corporation, African Capitalization Fund Buy 34% of UT Bank of Ghana for $23m
Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH (DEG), a German development finance institution; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the commercial arm of the US-based World Bank Group, and the African Capitalization Fund (ACF), a US-based investment fund managed by IFC subsidiary IFC Asset Management Company, recently placed an equity investment totaling approximately GHS 46 million (USD 23.3 million) in UT Bank Limited, a publicly-traded Ghanaian bank that offers microfinance services and was formerly known as Unique Trust Financial Services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rockefeller, Tony Elumelu Foundations Launch “Impact Economy Innovations Fund” for Africa
The Rockefeller Foundation, a US-based organization, and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a Nigeria-based organization, recently announced the launch of the Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF), an impact investment fund operating across Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Guarantee Fund (AGF) Guarantees $3.5m in Loans from Commercial Bank of Africa, Investments & Mortgages Limited to SMEs in East Africa
The African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a Kenya-based organization that aims to increase financial access by underwriting commercial bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, recently reached an agreement with Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), a bank based in Kenya, for a KES 200 million (USD 2.3 million) guarantee and with Kenya-based bank Investments & Mortgages Limited (I&M Bank) for a guarantee of KES 100 million (USD 1.2 million) to support the banks’ on-lending to SMEs.