Extra Support

Mar. 14 (LBO) – The International Finance Corp. said Tuesday that they have tied up with four Sri Lankan banks to increase access to finance small and medium enterprises (SME) in the island. IFC, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, hopes the partnership with Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Hatton National Bank, NDB Bank and Sampath Bank, will strengthen their SME activities.

Washington based IFC will work through the "South Asia Enterprise Development Facility Sri Lanka Maldives (SEDFLM)", with additional funding from the Governments of Norway and the Netherlands to promote the growth of SMEs in these two countries.

"SEDFLM will help provide SMEs with increased access to finance and improved financial services," said Gilles Galludec, Program Manager. "SEDFLM will also support sub sector development and the creation of an enabling business environment," he added.

Plans are currently underway to provide the four banks with technical assistance and training to expand their SME finance programs.

To focus on the types of training required, SEDFLM will conduct 'SME focused Diagnostics' on the four banks in the coming weeks.

-LBO Newsdesk: