AKIPRESS.COM - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has mobilized $16.5 million, including $5 million from its own account, for IMON International – Tajikistan’s leading microfinance institution. The move is expected to boost lending to micro, small and medium enterprises in the country’s remote and rural areas.

The local currency loan is IFC’s first parallel financing in Tajikistan. It will be complimented by investments mobilized by IFC from PROPARCO, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), which is making its first private sector investment in the country.

IMON International’s CEO Sanavbar Sharipova said: “With this financing package, we will be able to increase our credit and other product offerings for farmers, small businesses, and female entrepreneurs in Tajikistan.”

Marie-Hélène Loison, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations at PROPARCO, welcomed “the joint operation with IFC to support IMON International, which represents PROPARCO’s first investment in Tajikistan.”

“IFC promotes development by mobilizing financing for the private sector, which is what differentiates us from commercial financiers,” said Edward Strawderman, Regional Head of Industry, IFC EMENA Financial Institutions Group.

He added that the parallel financing will support IMON's overall growth strategy to diversify and increase the volume of its funding, better manage foreign currency risks, and meet the local currency funding needs of its borrowers.