Proparco and Commercial Bank join to support SMEs

France Ambassador Eric Lavertu and Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan exchanging financing agreements between Proparco and Commercial Bank of Ceylon 

Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group dedicated to private sector financing, has signed an agreement with Commercial Bank to support financing local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through a $ 25 million loan allocation. 

With this agreement, Proparco will be supporting a major player in financing Sri Lankan SMEs through a $ 25 million loan allocated to Commercial Bank of Ceylon (CBC), the leading private bank in Sri Lanka.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy. They make up about 75% of the total number of companies in the country and account for almost half of employment and GDP in the country.

Despite the key role they play in the national economy, Sri Lankan SMEs experience major difficulties in obtaining credit, which has a significant impact on their capacity to invest, recruit and grow. Supporting SMEs is consequently central to the Sri Lankan Government’s economic development strategy.

Commercial Bank has stood out in recent years for its skills development program, which has benefitted over 2,000 entrepreneurs since 2015. The bank has also launched a program for women entrepreneurs, which has already been followed by 850 of them.

The bank has also established 16 Agriculture and Microfinance Units (AMFU) around the country to groom micro entrepreneurs the future SMEs by providing continuous financial and nonfinancial services. Annually the bank conducts capacity building/financial literacy programs for over 1,000 micro entrepreneurs as non-financial services. 

By allocating a $ 25m loan to CBC, Proparco is reasserting its support to SMEs in the country after many other credit lines targeted towards this key segment of the economy. This new long-term financing is expected to create or support over 5,000 jobs in Sri Lanka.

This operation is in line with Proparco’s commitment to support access to finance for SMEs in developing countries and emerging economies.

Over the last 10 years, Proparco’s parent company, the French Development Agency, has committed EUR 600 million to sustainable projects in Sri Lanka in key development sectors including water and sanitation, urban development, energy, and irrigation. With this project, AFD Group’s investments in the country will cross 850 million euro.