{"id":80770,"date":"2018-09-07T10:35:19","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T17:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=80770"},"modified":"2018-09-07T10:35:19","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T17:35:19","slug":"us-9-million-from-usaid-for-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/09\/07\/us-9-million-from-usaid-for-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"US$ 9 million from USAID for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Colombo, September 7 (newsin.asia): The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the USAID Development Credit Authority (DCA), Hatton National Bank PLC and Sampath Bank PLC have announced a new partnership for a program of up to US $9 million for local financing available to private, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) throughout Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

This seven year program will help to address the current lack of financing to these key borrower groups. This partnership will complement and be further supported by USAID\u2019s YouLead program that strengthens employability and self-employment opportunities for youth in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

\"US$<\/div>\n

The signing of this agreement, which took place on September 5, 2018 in Colombo, reaffirms United States\u2019 commitment to Sri Lanka\u2019s economic development, and is part of broader and ongoing USAID support for Sri Lanka. \u00a0We at USAID are proud to encourage private sector lending in key sectors that are vital to the economic development of Sri Lanka,\u201d said Reed Aeschliman, Mission Director for USAID Sri Lanka. Increasing access to credit enables youth entrepreneurs to improve their own lives, and helps small and medium enterprises to spur further economic growth in their respective regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program represents a crucial step toward enabling Sri Lanka\u2019s private sector and youth entrepreneurs to access capital, expand businesses, and, ultimately, to create more jobs.\u00a0 The agreement will unlock critical resources that will help spur innovation, foster investment, and provide critical resources to under-served segments of Sri Lanka\u2019s economy including existing MSMEs and start-ups. Given HNB\u2019s extended legacy of facilitating growth and development in the MSME sector, we are conscious of the immense potential and vital need for access to finance. Today\u2019s partnership between HNB, USAID, and Sampath Bank represents a vital step forward in our collective mission in enhancing economic opportunities for young Sri Lankans\u201d, said \u00a0Jude Fernando, HNB Deputy General Manager \u2013 SME and Mid-Market.<\/p>\n

HNB and Sampath Banks\u2019 strategies align well with the purpose of this partnership. Both banks have extensive outreach and experience, and are well positioned and committed to increasing MSMEs and start-up lending. We at Sampath Bank believe in entrepreneurship development at all levels and development finance has been a major area of lending for us. As such, we welcome this scheme which will provide better access to much required capital for the new entrepreneurs and it aligns well with our own entrepreneurship development initiative,\u201d said \u00a0Tharaka Ranwala, Senior Executive Director of Sampath Bank.<\/p>\n

USAID\u2019s DCA works with investors, local financial institutions, and development organizations to design and deliver investment alternatives to mobilize local financing for U.S. Government priorities. To date, the DCA has helped mobilize up to $5.4 billion in private capital in 76 countries across 558 projects. For more information about USAID, visit<\/p>\n

USAID is the development agency of the U.S. Government. USAID has provided development and humanitarian assistance to developing countries worldwide for more than 50 years. In Sri Lanka, the U.S. Government has invested more than 320 billion Sri Lankan rupees (two billion US dollars) to benefit its people since 1956. For more information, visit<\/p>\n

(The\u00a0 featured image at the top shows USAID Mission Director, Reed Aeschliman, with senior officials from Sampath Bank and Hatton National Bank following the launch of a partnership that provides\u00a0local financing to MSMEs. Photo: USAID)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, September 7 (newsin.asia): The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the USAID Development Credit Authority (DCA), Hatton National Bank PLC and Sampath Bank PLC have announced a new partnership for a program of up to US $9 million for local financing available to private, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}