IDB Bolsters Small Business Lending in El Salvador

Some 10,000 urban and rural micro-entrepreneurs, mostly women, in El Salvador will have better access to financing through a USD4 million Inter-American Development Bank credit. The sum will back 23 non-bank financial institutions to help lend to low-income microentrepreneurs. “Only 15 percent of micro enterprises (in El Salvador) have access to financial services, and rural credit lines are very limited, perceived as high risk,” IDB team leader Carmen Cristina Alvarez-Basso said. (“El Salvador will expand financing for 10,000 small businesses with IDB loan” - Inter-American Development Bank, Dec. 10, 2008)