IDB Bolsters Small Business Lending in El Salvador

Some 10,000 urban and rural micro-entrepreneurs, mostly women, in El Salvador will improve their access to financing through a USD4 million Inter-American Development Bank credit, an IDB report stated. The sum will back 23 non-bank financial institutions to help lend to low-income microentrepreneurs. “Only 15% 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.