How we’re helping drive small business growth in Uzbekistan
Small and medium enterprises have a key role in Uzbekistan’s economic and social development. We’ve partnered with MIGA to help finance their growth.
In Uzbekistan, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in economic development and job creation.
Historically, some of these businesses have faced challenges when it comes to accessing the financing they need to grow. Supporting SMEs is a strategic goal for the Joint-stock company National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NBU) – the largest bank in Uzbekistan.
This May, we announced EUR114 million in financing with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group (MIGA) for the NBU.
The MIGA-covered loan will be used to support the development of SMEs across sectors such as agribusiness, wholesale, and manufacturing.
Because the SMEs’ growth plans will have social impact, Standard Chartered structured the financing to meet the Social Loan Principles – a framework of market standards and guidelines which offer a consistent methodology for use across the social loan market.
The project will also implement an enhanced Environmental and Social Management System tailored to SMEs. This means it will incorporate globally-recognised environmental and social standards.
Many teams from across the bank worked closely together to deliver the project, and Standard Chartered and NBU officials met in Tashkent for a ceremony to sign a Memorandum of Collaboration.
“We are proud to leverage our strong partnership with the National Bank of Uzbekistan and MIGA to encourage a greater flow of private capital for developing the SME sector, a socially impactful project,” said Standard Chartered UK CEO Saif Malik.