ULAN BATOR, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has provided a local-currency loan equivalent of around 12 million U.S. dollars to a Mongolian company, the World Bank's country office in Mongolia said Tuesday.
The move is part of IFC's strategic efforts to boost resilience in Mongolia's financial sector amid COVID-19. About 15,000 micro, rural and women entrepreneurs in the next three years are set to benefit from the loan in the Mongolian tugrik for Transcapital, a leading non-bank financial institution in Mongolia.
The financing package includes a three-year loan of about 8.4 billion Mongolian tugriks (about 3 million U.S. dollars) from the IFC's own account and a syndicated loan of about 25.2 billion Mongolian tugriks (about 9 million dollars) from Impact Investment funds, including Invest in Visions, the Microfinance Initiative for Asia by BlueOrchard Finance, ACTIAM, and Developing World Markets, according to the World Bank.
"Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the Mongolian economy, providing over 50 percent of all jobs. They are also the ones hardest hit by COVID-19," said Zorigt Altanzul, CEO of Transcapital.
"IFC's innovative financing will allow us to expand our support to Mongolian micro and small enterprises while contributing to the nation's effort to rebound from (the) COVID-19 effect," Altanzul said.
In Mongolia, about 90 percent of SMEs do not have regular access to bank lending, with the financing gap estimated at 1.29 billion dollars, the bank said.
"This innovative investment will address some of the challenges faced by Mongolian businesses, especially micro and women-owned enterprises in rural and semi-urban areas," said Rufat Alimardanov, IFC's resident representative for Mongolia.
"This marks the first time IFC has invested in a non-banking financial institution in Mongolia and it's also our first local currency syndication in Mongolia. The financing signals our strong commitment to helping Mongolian enterprises in the recovery and rebuilding process in the wake of COVID-19," Alimardanov said. Enditem
