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ADB Approves $50 Million Loan to Modernize Nepal’s Customs, Boost Trade and Jobs
Aligned with Nepal’s Sixteenth Plan and broader efforts to promote private sector-led growth, diversify the economy, and strengthen resilience, the reforms support the implementation of the Government of Nepal’s Customs Reform and Modernization Plan, Trade Logistics Policy, and new Industrial and Logistics Trade Master Plan.
- Region
- South Asia
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World Bank Backs Cambodia’s $115-Million Clean Energy Push, Flags Environmental Risks
The program will be implemented nationwide, covering both urban and rural areas, including Phnom Penh and the eastern provinces.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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Designing Credit Systems for Informal Economies: Why More Data Alone Is Not Enough
The global financing gap for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) is estimated in the trillions. As Ayokunmi Sodamola argues, the reason for this gap is not that these enterprises exhibit poor financial behaviors — or even that there’s a lack of data that can be used to establish their creditworthiness. It's that standard credit assessment systems aren't designed to capture and interpret the data generated by their informal financial activities. He explores how lenders can build a more integrated approach that treats data, identity, trust, risk and incentives as interconnected layers of a single credit system.
- Categories
- Finance
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D.light Takes PAYGo Solar From Impact Funds to the London Stock Exchange
The listing brings d.light’s cumulative PAYGo receivables purchasing capacity to $1 billion — a milestone that few in the off-grid energy sector thought achievable when the company pioneered the first-ever PAYGo securitisation back in 2020.
- Categories
- Energy, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Report: Buy-Now-Pay-Later Reshapes South Africa Credit Landscape
A recent report reveals that BNPL is evolving beyond a simple payment tool and is increasingly serving as an entry point into the formal credit system for millions of consumers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, e-commerce, fintech, lending, research
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Second Emerging Markets CLO Advances World Bank Group Push to Mobilize Private Capital for Jobs
This strategic approach is designed to attract private capital at scale for investments in productive sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs and drive growth.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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MTN Targets Nigeria’s $236 Billion Credit Gap as its $500 Billion MoMo Business Pushes into Lending
MTN Group is moving to turn its African mobile-money empire into something much bigger than a payments business, as the telecoms giant prepares to separate its fintech operations in Nigeria and Uganda, bring in strategic investors, and push into lending across some of the continent’s most underbanked markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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After Securing $260 Million in 2025, Madagascar Billionaire Lands Another €170 Million for Telecom Growth
Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee has secured another major vote of confidence from international financiers after AXIAN Telecom landed a €170 million ($196 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), extending a funding streak that has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars into the fast-growing African telecom operator.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
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