The United States government disbursed $150 million in financing to DFCC Bank on November 12 to support the sustainable development of Sri Lankan community-based businesses, the U.S Embassy in Colombo announced today.
This is the largest loan disbursement by the U.S Government’s development finance arm focusing on emerging markets, U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for Sri Lanka, and it is part of a $265 million commitment designed to support the local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, especially women-led enterprises in Sri Lanka.
Through this partnership, DFCC Bank will provide lending solutions in priority sectors and support Sri Lanka’s commitment to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly enhancing the country’s efforts to promote female entrepreneurship. A portion of the DFC loan will be directed towards MSMEs owned or led by Sri Lankan women to tackle one of the biggest issues faced by women entrepreneurs: limited access to finance.
: “Gender equity and equality are key aspects of the bold new global infrastructure initiative Build Back Better World (B3W) that President Biden and G7 partners launched earlier this year. We look forward to seeing this funding make a difference for Sri Lankan communities, for small and medium businesses, and for women entrepreneurs, as we all recover from the pandemic,” Disbursing the funds, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Sri Lanka and Maldives Martin Kelly said
The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is the development finance institution of the United States government, primarily responsible for providing and facilitating the financing of private development projects in countries around the world. This assistance is part of DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative which has mobilized $ 7 billion in private sector investment toward women’s economic empowerment and aims to provide an additional $ 12 billion by 2025 to advance gender equity in emerging markets worldwide.
The U.S recently stepped up funding through DFC to the private sector entities in countries which has become dependent on Chinese loans, in an attempt to part of the U.S government’s effort to counter growing influence in China.