Promoting access to finance and banking services for SMEs has become a key economic objective for governments and central banks in the countries. The IFC Africa Credit Bureau Program expects to increase lending to SMEs by $20m reaching 5000 SMEs in Tanzania and by $15m reaching 3750 SMEs in Mozambique.
IFC has co-hosted a series of regional workshops that brought together central banks, financial institutions, national bankers’ associations and commercial banks. Each workshop was co-hosted with the Central Bank-National Bank of Ethiopia, Banco de Moçambique, and Bank of Tanzania. Sessions included best practices in credit reporting and how credit reporting can increase financial services for small and medium businesses in Africa.
Ulrich Zeisluft, principal financial specialist at IFC, said: “These workshops are timed to coincide with efforts by the central banks of Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Tanzania to design or implement credit information sharing systems in their countries. IFC’s global experiences will help them define perceptions and strategy.”
IFC said: “African economies are comparatively difficult markets for individuals and businesses to get credit. The IFC-World Bank Doing Business in 2010 report ranked Tanzania 87 out of 183 countries surveyed for ease of getting credit. Ethiopia and Mozambique were equally ranked at 127, Ethiopia and Tanzania have virtually no public or private credit registry coverage, while Mozambique’s has only 2.3% coverage of adults through a public registry.”
