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Dushanbe, Tajikistan, April 2, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a local currency loan equivalent to about $5 million to IMON, the leading microfinance institution in Tajikistan, to increase access to finance for the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people, many of them women living in rural areas.
IFC’s loan linked to Tajik Somoni will help IMON increase its reach to micro and small entrepreneurs, including women, in rural Tajikistan. This deal is IFC’s first local currency financing project in Tajikistan. Combined with IFC’s advisory work, the investment will also support IMON during its transformation into a full-fledged bank.
“Since local currency financing of long-term maturity is scarce in Tajikistan, domestic microfinance institutions are exposed to a foreign currency risk, which negatively affects private-sector development and the economic growth of the country,” said Sanavbar Sharipova, IMON’s CEO. “IFC’s local currency funds will help IMON increase and diversify lending activities and expand the microfinance network.”
Limited access to finance, with low penetration of the microfinance and banking sectors, hinders economic development in Tajikistan. IFC advisors are helping microfinance institutions develop their management capacity, and IFC investments are helping the lenders stabilize and diversify their funding base by extending long-term financing, thus fulfilling demand for financial services.
“IFC wants to expand microfinance in Tajikistan to stimulate entrepreneurship and attract private capital to the financial sector,” said K. Aftab Ahmed, IFC Director for Financial Markets and Private Equity Funds for Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. “IFC’s work with IMON will help improve access to finance for micro and small entrepreneurs in Tajikistan, many of whom are accessing the formal financial sector for the first time. It will also support IMON in its transformation into a full-fledged commercial bank.”
Since the early 1990s, IFC has led innovation in the microfinance sector, using developments in technology, financial products, and policy to help financial institutions reach a greater number of people in a more cost-effective way. Rapid growth of the industry over the past 15 years has helped lenders reach approximately 130 million clients.
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 US$19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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