Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a local currency-linked loan of up to US$15 million to Ipak Yuli Bank to expand lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Uzbekistan.

IFC’s funding will enable Ipak Yuli Bank to provide its MSMEs clients with working capital loans in local currency, a first financial product of this type in Uzbekistan’s financial market. Such loans enable MSMEs to finance their everyday operations such as purchasing supplies, paying employees, and meeting obligations to clients.

“We welcome IFC’s financial support and global expertise supporting banks develop innovative products to finance MSMEs,” said Saidabror Savdakhmedov, Chairman of the Management Board of Ipak Yuli Bank. “We have made great strides in expanding access to finance, but this financing will allow us to offer more working capital and new products for our target clients.”

“This new partnership reflects IFC’s broader efforts to develop a sound financial ecosystem in the country to address the funding needs of MSMEs, who are generating growth and employment opportunities in Uzbekistan,” said Wiebke Schloemer, IFC Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

This new financing is central to IFC’s ongoing work in Uzbekistan to expand local-currency funding to local private banks and help develop domestic financial and capital markets. Since May 2018, IFC has placed three Uzbek soum-denominated bonds, raising 240 billion soums (US$30 million equivalent) to expand lending for MSMEs in Uzbekistan.