Tunis, Tunisia, April 5, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) held a high-level conference today highlighting the importance of lending to smaller businesses, an initiative designed to help spur economic growth across the Maghreb region.
The conference in Tunis brought together bankers, corporate executives, regulators and entrepreneurs from Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Mauritania. They discussed ways to make it easier for small and medium enterprises to access credit, which can play a vital role in helping firms expand and create jobs.
“Our partnership with IFC will help raise awareness about the potential of these companies and the benefits to lenders of helping them access finance,” said Wissam Fattouh, UAB Secretary General.
Small and medium enterprises dominate the economic scene in the Maghreb. In Tunisia, for example, 90 percent of all firms are small and medium enterprises, and these companies provide more than 50 percent of private-sector jobs.
“Tunisia’s private sector is the main driver of economic growth in the country,” said Antoine Courcelle- Labrousse, IFC’s Country Officer in Tunisia. “A key to supporting it is extending financial services to small and medium businesses, which have tremendous potential but often find it difficult to access credit.”
This conference is part of IFC’s Advisory Services program in the Middle East and North Africa, which aims to support private sector development across the region. A pillar of that strategy is helping regional banks strengthen their offerings to smaller business.
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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About UAB
The Union of Arab Banks (UAB) is a non-profit quasi-regulatory organization operating under the umbrella of the League of Arab States and comprising more than 345 Arab financial and banking institutions. It is the largest consortium in the Arab region and aims to consolidate and foster cooperation between its members and the international banking and financial communities, providing a bridge for networking opportunities between regional institutions and the international marketplace.
