MANILA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mastercard Impact Fund to establish a partnership aimed at supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across Asia and the Pacific.
The ADB said the initiative will initially target Georgia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
It will leverage a grant of 5 million U.S. dollars from Mastercard to financial institutions to catalyze lending toward MSMEs, focusing on women-led or women-owned MSMEs and climate finance among small businesses, the Manila-based bank said.
The grant will support up to 1 billion dollars of ADB financing over a four-year period, providing risk-reduction capital, performance incentives, and capacity building for financial institutions, it added. ■