ADB approves $150m loan for micro and small ventures
The loan is expected to facilitate the recovery of 30,000 enterprises in Bangladesh
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $150 million loan to Bangladesh to help its cottage, micro, and small enterprises run by the youth, returning migrant workers, and rural entrepreneurs, particularly women, who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The loan to the Bangladesh Bank will be disbursed through the participating financial institutions, and expected to help 30,000 businesses directly, said a press release.
"ADB supports the Bangladesh government's long-term strategy to tackle the country's employment challenges triggered by the pandemic," said ADB Principal Financial Sector Specialist for South Asia Dongdong Zhang.
"Promoting access to finance will help address a critical challenge of easing recovery of vulnerable small-scale businesses from the pandemic fallouts," he added.
The project targets disbursing at least 20% of the fund to the microbusiness led by women.
Besides, the ADB will provide an additional $900,000 technical assistance grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund for the Bangladesh Bank and the participating financial institutions to help them strengthen their risk management capacities, business process, and information systems, the release reads.
