USAID Mobilizes Record Amount of Private Capital to Support Small Businesses in Developing Countries

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) worked with 45 financial institutions in 23 countries in 2012 to unlock up to $525 million in private capital for underserved entrepreneurs in developing countries. The financing, made available through 34 partial credit guarantees, is the most USAID has mobilized in a single year.

Guarantees are a cost-effective way to get local, private financing into the hands of creditworthy borrowers. From low-income Haitians seeking to rebuild in Port-au-Prince, to women-owned small businesses in Kabul, to solar companies in Uganda, USAID is enabling private markets in the developing world to provide financing to the people who need it most.

Reflecting Obama Administration priorities in food security and clean energy, these guarantees will open $219 million in bank financing for food security, $77 million for renewable energy, and $215 million for small enterprises. More than half of the $525 million of approved credit guarantees are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: USAID Press Release (link opens in a new window)

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