NDB Bank disclosed that they have secured a long term funding line of USD 75 million from the Development Finance Corporation of the United States to further the Bank’s support forsmall and medium businesses and infrastructure funding during these challenging times.
The United States is providing a welcome boost to small and medium businesses in Sri Lanka struggling with the impact of the pandemic.The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is awarding a USD 75 million funding line to NDB Bank to support its work in expanding and strengthening the SME sector. The funding line comes at a time when the country requires long-term, stable funding to help the economy recover from the effects of the pandemic. With its DNA deeply rooted in development banking, NDB is ideally placed to enhance the impact of the funding in conjunction with its flagship propositions Jayagamu Sri Lanka for uplifting entrepreneurship in SME and Vanithabhimani for uplifting women driven businesses. Further, the investments the group is making in technology, including, but not limited to, virtual KYC and digital payment platforms, will improve financial inclusivity and enable SME’s to seamlessly transact with NDB. These investments advance DFC’s development strategy, the Roadmap for Impact, and are part of DFC’s2X Women’s Initiative which aligns with NDB’s Banking on Women initiatives aimed at improving financial inclusivity, gender equity and supporting women led organisations.Vice President of DFC’s Office of External Affairs and Head of Global Gender Equity Initiatives, Algene Sajery, said; “We applaud NDB Group’s ongoing commitment to unlocking the full economic potential of women in Sri Lanka, both by ensuring women are employed by and in senior management positions in their own organization, and by committing to lending a portion of DFC’s loan to businesses that are owned by women, led by women, or provide a product or service that empowers women.” Group CEO of NDB Group Dimantha Seneviratne, said; “While this is not the first time NDB has raised significantforeign funding, this is the first time we are borrowing from a U.S. based Development Finance Institution (DFI) whose development aspirations are aligned to that of NDB. Further the timing of the facility cannot be better, coming at a critical juncture in the economy impacted by the 3rd wave of the pandemic”. “This facility will help NDB support this vital sector of the economy with longer term funding at their time of need.” NDB recently tied up as the main Banking partner for SL @ 100 initiative funded by USAID, which promotes SMEs to upgrade to higher levels through strategic alignment initiatives.
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