Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank receives US$ 150 million from the US to support MSMEs
Sri Lanka’s DFCC has received a financial facility of US$ 150 million from the US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC).
The facility to the DFCC Bank is to be a bilateral loan that will go towards the local Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, as well as women-led enterprises in Sri Lanka.
This facility from the US International Development Finance Corporation to DFCC Bank is the largest loan disbursement by the DFC for Sri Lanka to date and the loan also contributes to IDFC’s wider goals of empowering communities across the globe, as well as tackling gender inequality, and improving economic equity, both of which were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, local media reports stated.
Through this partnership, DFCC Bank is geared to provide comprehensive and varied on-lending solutions to priority sectors and support its commitment to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly enhancing the country’s efforts to achieve Goal 5: Gender Equality, according to local media reports.
The DFCC Bank is to reportedly ensure that a portion of the on-lending will be primarily focused on women-led SMEs, with the overarching goal of driving women entrepreneurship. This initiative tackles one of the biggest issues faced by women entrepreneurs – limited access to finance, leading to a lack of capital and thereby low business capacities.
This funding provided by the United States is expected to support the bank’s multi-faceted, multi-thematic long-term vision 2030 under its ‘Resilient Business’ strategic pillar.
OSL take:
The funding assistance received by Sri Lanka’s DFCC bank is indicative of the strength of the country’s banking sector as well as the level of confidence bilateral and multilateral financial institutions have on it. Sri Lanka’s economy has shown great resilience to external and internal challenges through the years and is once again on the path to recovery after facing the impact of the global Covid 19 pandemic. This has increased the level of confidence in Sri Lanka’s economic recovery amidst the pandemic as well as it’s growth potential and expansion. Several key economic sectors in the country have infact shown a positive growth trend despite the pandemic. The many trade agreements as well as tradeconcessions enjoyed by the country and the improving ease of doing business environment have placed Sri Lanka as an emerging business/investment destination.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210715/Z_2 |