At Belize’s first Investment Summit, held on the 10th and 11th November 2021, Chairman of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Mr. Henry A. Anderson signed onto a US $15 Million Loan Facility from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to support short term financial sustainability and economic recovery for Belizean Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) through access to working capital and production-oriented finance to the private sector, including women and vulnerable groups.
Component 1, US $3.0 MN, will be used to help MSMEs affected by the Covid crisis overcome temporary liquidity problems and continue operating, being able to comply with their commercial and financial obligations and normalize their business cycle. Financing can be accessed by Businesses to support working capital expenses such as, but not limited to, the acquisition of supplies or merchandise, payment of salaries, taxes, and utilities, and for any other purpose related to the maintenance and recovery of economic activity in the short term.
Component 2, US $12.0 MN, will be used to support economic recovery by providing production-oriented finance to MSMEs. Financing will be for investment projects, ensuring MSMEs have the ongoing access to the finance they need to continue operating their businesses, recover from the crisis, or meet increased demand as a consequence of COVID‑19. These credit operations will be used for investments related to the purchase of buildings, the purchase of equipment and machinery, the expansion and improvement of infrastructure and retrofits for making businesses COVID resilient, the implementation of new technology, techniques, and processes, and refinancing of previous debts when MSMEs are at risk of default and previous credits were already financing productive investments.
As part of this component, resources will also support a more sustainable and resilient economic recovery through financing investments for climate adaptation and mitigation in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture (fisheries), and tourism.
Additionally, resources will support the resilience of MSMEs to natural disasters through financing investments to reduce Msme’s vulnerability to climate events and natural disasters.
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