I&M Bank chief executive Kihara Maina. FILE PHOTO | NMG
I&M Bank has secured Sh4.1 billion ($40 million) funding
from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for onward lending to local
businesses and to government agencies.
The bank on
Thursday said the money would be used to finance up to 50 per cent of
specific projects for corporate clients, small businesses, and public
sector entities that qualify for the line of credit.
“We
believe that the funding line from EIB will help our SME, corporate and
institutional customers accelerate their business growth and support
their expansion efforts,” said I&M chief executive Kihara Maina.
The
EIB is the world’s largest public financier. Over the past few years
the lender has emphasised the provision of credit for small businesses.
The EIB has said it funded these businesses globally to the tune of Sh3.8 trillion (Euro 29.6 billion) in 2017.
At
the beginning of 2017 EIB said that it was setting aside Sh27 billion
to fund small businesses in East Africa, a significant increase from the
Sh10.5 billion that were disbursed in 2016.
The
Luxembourg-based lender has previously extended I&M lines of
credit. EIB in 2014 lent the bank Sh1 billion (Euro 8 million) to
support its investment in small businesses in Rwanda.
This
is the second announcement of a line of credit that I&M has secured
from an international financier in the space of a week.
Earlier
this week, the International Finance Corporation said it had extended
Sh1 billion to I&M’s Rwandan subsidiary for onward lending to SMEs.
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