The FINANCIAL — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group has declared of lending 20 million USD to Bank Republic, Société Générale Group for financing small and medium size enterprises.
The FINANCIAL — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group has declared of lending 20 million USD to Bank Republic, Société Générale Group for financing small and medium size enterprises.
“This is a 20 million USD 5 year facility for SME sector, in direction of most of the companies in Georgia to finance them on a medium term basis” says Gilbert Hie, CEO of Bank Republic.
“Due to the fact that this facility is not restricted for special sector of the industry it has very large scope and most of the Georgian companies which are included as medium size are eligible to this facilities.
Mainly it will be for manufacturing and trade companies. We will try also direct our financing in two directions one is agricultural and agro business products and the second is energy efficiency which is also important in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility and in our contribution to finance steady development in Georgia,” declares Hie.
“20 million USD amount of loan will be for distribution to SME enterprises. We believe that SME enterprises represent one of the most important segments for economic growth as well as employment. It touches lots of sectors ranging from everything small retailer shops traders some agricultural processes and any other businesses you can think, quite flexible and dynamic group of companies,” declares Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Head, Caucasus.
“SME business has high potential and the most interesting field to develop is manufacturing in Georgia, in order to be able to produce products, to be exported and development of export is crucial for this country in order to capture inflow of foreign currency,” declares Hie.
Lubeck says that for country agriculture as well as hydro power and sustainable energy generation has lots of potential in the field of SME business.
The partnership between IFC and Bank Republic started in 2005 when Bank Republic joined IFC project, the total loan contribution from IFC to Bank Republic consisted for total of 42 million USD for all the projects during this 5 year. This considers distribution of loans for SME size businesses, as well as mortgage loans and education. Moreover, the bank joined IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program.
“The level of trust from IFC side to Bank Republic is that the very first action we took after the war 2008 was to make first loan to Bank republic within one week and half. I hope we will have lot of business together in the future as well.
The purpose of this 20 million USD credit line is to allow BR to spent on SME businesses. IFC likes to support SME size enterprises as we believe it is important for diversification of the economy as well as creating employment places,” declares Lubeck.
“IFC is financing 10 institution banks of Societe Generale in various parts of the world. We finance Societe Generale banks in Brazil, in Africa, in Easter Europe, in Russia and within this context Georgia is very important. As we manage to finance activities of Societe Generale and consequently supporting activity development of Bank Republic we are engaging in development of Georgian economy,” says Jean- Marie Masse, Head, IFC-MIGA Business Development and Partnership.
In March 2009, the largest multilateral investors and lenders in Central and Easter Europe – the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank Group and the World Bank Group, including IFC- pledged to provide up to 24.5 billion EUR to support the banking sectors in the region and to fund lending to businesses hit by the global economic crisis. Under the two-year plan, the World Bank Group pledged to provide support of around 7.5 billion EUR including up to 2 billion EUR through IFC. IFC’s crisis response initiatives under the plan focus on sectors including banking, infrastructure and trade, as well as through its traditional investment and advisory services.
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