Bucharest, Romania, May 3, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Garanti Bank are joining forces to expand the availability of trade finance for importers and exporters in Romania to help promote economic growth and create jobs.
IFC has extended a $15 million credit line to Garanti Bank under the Global Trade Finance Program, or GTFP, which supports trade in emerging markets by providing partial or full guarantees for individual trade transactions backed by IFC’s triple-A rating.
Garanti Bank, which operates 79 branches across Romania, will use the credit line to scale up its trade finance activity, particularly among its local clients in the agro-processing, energy, and metallurgical sectors.
“Participating in the Global Trade Finance Program will enable us to provide our clients with additional products to help them pursue new opportunities in international trade,” said Murat Atay, General Manager of Granti Bank Romania. “By developing business in new markets, our clients will help fuel the recovery of the Romanian economy.”
Ed Strawderman, IFC Associate Director, Financial Markets, Europe and Central Asia, said: “Through our trade finance program, IFC is channeling much-needed financing to economies that have been hardest hit during the global financial crisis. Access to trade finance is critical to help Romanian firms, especially small and medium enterprises, grow and create jobs.”
Since its inception in 2005, IFC’s award-winning GTFP has issued more than 11,000 guarantees totaling $15.8 billion to banks on trade-related payment obligations of its financial institution clients in emerging markets. Most significantly, in fiscal 2011, some 53 percent of the program’s total volume supported trade in the world’s poorest countries, and 79 percent went to small and medium enterprises. The program includes more than 200 partner banks in over 90 emerging-market countries.
Romania became a member of IFC in 1990. IFC’s current portfolio in Romania stands at $658 million. IFC’s role in the country is evolving in light of the country’s European Union membership and the growing availability of private financing. In addition to its work in financial markets, IFC has focused on agriculture, general manufacturing, infrastructure, and health care.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
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