Luanda - A financing line, with the amount per project up to US$5 million (1USD is roughly Kz 912.35), was launched on Tuesday, in Luanda, by the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC), aiming to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
Named “Diversifica Mais”, the financing has a sovereign guarantee of 80% of the credit value.
The project comes as part of the acceleration of economic diversification and the promotion of employment and focuses on companies located along the Lobito Corridor, mainly the connection between the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico.
The guarantee covers all sectors of economic activity, for a period of 10 years, with financing projects of up to US$200k benefiting from an automatic guarantee, with an interest rate of 7.5% per year.
Its implementation is the result of a partnership between the Angolan Government and the World Bank to finance a Faster Economic Diversification and Job Creation project with US$80 million. It will be managed by FGC, to support bank financing.
In the first phase, the project will finance MSMEs owned or managed by women, with US$12 million, and US$20 million for projects linked to climate safeguards.
Speaking to the press, the Credit Guarantee Fund's Board of Director, Luzayadio Nsimba, highlighted that the program is national in scope, and businesspeople can now turn to banks and request financing within the “diversify more” framework.
Luzayadio Nsimba made it known that, since 2012, the FGC has already provided 1,720 guarantees that benefited from the effective financing of the projects.
The secretary of State for Public Investment, Ivan dos Santos, reiterated full support for private business to boost national production, through bank financing for the national productive sector.
On that occasion, a memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) and Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA), with the aim of creating conditions for the automatic granting of partial credit guarantees to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs.
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