The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday, signed a USD41 million finance package with the Bank of Maldives (BML).
The international financial institution signed with the Maldives national bank to enhance support to local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and tourism ventures.
ADB “arranged, structured, and syndicated” the financing package, which is comprised of a loan up to USD13 million from its ordinary capital resources, a parallel loan of up to USD13 million from Japan International Cooperation Agency, and another parallel loan of up to USD5 million from the Development Bank of Austria.
The bank further stated that at least 60% of the package will be earmarked for lending to SMEs, and another 5% allocated to women-owned or led firms.
To alleviate bankability issues related to blue economy transaction in the Maldives and improve development impact, ADB has blended the project’s debt financing with concessional loan of up to USD9 million from the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II (CFPS II) and another grant of USD1 million from the bank’s Asian Development Fund (ADF) – Private Sector Window (ADB-PSW).