The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has loaned KES 2 Billion (US$ 20 Million) to the East African Development Bank meant for onward lending to SMEs in the region.
In a statement by the OPEC Fund, the loan is intended to boost EADB’s lending to small enterprises in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Opec Fund director-general Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, said in the statement, “We are pleased to support private sector development in East Africa, which goes to the core of our mandate.”
EADB Director General, Ms Vivienne Yeda, said that the funds will be deployed to “promote enterprises that generate employment opportunities, social economic development and consequently promote regional integration.”
East African banks have taken a number of loans from global funds for the very purpose of loaning to SMEs.
Some of the funds include; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), European Investment Bank (EIB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
