Join today (July 29) the nine directors of the banks contributing to a group of financiers and prominent Iraqis in Baghdad, project managers to celebrate the arrival of the first half of the grant of $ 6 million, which will be used to provide low-cost loans to begin or expand small and medium enterprises.
Been allocated the first installment of $ 3 million contribution to the banks by the Iraqi company for the financing of small and medium enterprises, a company founded Iraqi help the United States Agency for International Development and Trade Project of economic development in the provinces. These funds will be provided in the form of loans to qualified entrepreneurs for the benefit of almost 10%, a rate of 35% below the limits of the price prevailing in the commercial banks.
The company was established to finance the Iraqi small and medium enterprises in May 2009 and the company aims to transform the grants received by the capital to provide loans to the banks to contribute to the participating units, where there to lend small and medium enterprises. These units and lend entrepreneurs in order to stimulate private sector growth. There are approximately 700,000 A project of this magnitude in Iraq. And working in each of the 3 to 29 workers. And as expected the banks to contribute to the members of the Iraqi company for financing small and medium enterprises, the flow of the capital of the secured loan will allow the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises existing and start new projects.
The small and medium enterprises have a significant impact on the safety of the Iraqi economy and the sector of small and medium enterprises is a significant proportion of the labor. In the economy, which depends on the market and the entrepreneurs, the medium-sized companies and large projects often start small and take the wealthy and therefore grow significantly over time. If the sector of small and medium enterprises is the engine of the economy, the financing of this sector will be the fuel that drives economic growth. And that access to credit is vital for the continued growth of the Iraqi economy.
There is a large demand for this type of financing. During the first two weeks of the start of the program, the banks participating in the Iraqi company for the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, regardless 65 loans worth 1.2 billion new Iraqi dinars.
And little Mr. Shirwan Mustafa, managing director of the company to finance Iraq's small and medium-sized enterprises "that many entrepreneurs are not able to pay interest ranging from 16-18%, but they can pay interest amounting to 10%." And "We hope to be a source of funding that the cause of more competition and falling interest rates by more."
Volumes of loans from small and medium-sized projects using grant funds, the Iraqi company to finance projects between small and medium-300.000.000 dinars to 6,000,000 dinars. And this amount can be used only in the development or expansion of small enterprises.
Private commercial banks that the institution will receive allocations from the capital of the lending company to finance the Iraqi small and medium enterprises is the Gulf Bank and Commercial Bank of Sumer and Assyria Investment Bank and North Bank and the Bank of the Middle East Investment Bank and Al Ahli Bank of Baghdad and Mosul, and the Bank and the Bank Basra International.
And is the "trade" for economic development in the provinces, which helped to establish the Iraqi company for financing small and medium-sized enterprises by encouraging private sector development and employment of labor in Iraq through support of sustainable microfinance and bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and business development services and investment promotion and trade policy reforms and accession to the WTO. The project "Trade" with the government institutions and business associations in Iraq and local leaders to create partnerships that would improve the environment of projects and expansion of the private sector and accelerate the achievement of other objectives of the joint.