Microfinance

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday said there were encouraging signs from the development of micro-funding in Greece.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments will provide financial assistance of BGN 10 million for 320 micro-enterprises in Bulgaria, announced the European Commission.

Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency will help in organizing a series of EaSi loan applications training for the European Investment Fund. The Executive Director of the Agency Dr. Boyko Takov and Mr. Detelin Tsvetanov, Head of Crediting and Leasing at the microfinance institution „Jobs", a group of the Bulgarian Development Ban agreed on this.

In ten years, Bulgaria has climbed three positions in the Prosperity Index of the London-based Legatum Institute, but bad scores in the management, health care and personal freedom sub-indices leave the country at the bottom of the ranking among EU member-states.

Bulgarian microfinance service CashCredit has won an award from the Mondato Summits, events focused on developing the emerging Digital Finance and Commerce space.

The company has received the Mondato Award for Mobile Finance and Commerce Innovation in Africa, along with Oradian, a core microfinance system and platform.

In Davos this year, I found the opportunity to listen to, once more, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the inventor of microcredits and the founder of Grameen Bank. 

Kosovo's parliamentary commission for budget and finances discussed the need for new legislation on NGO microfinance institutions on Wednesday, saying it was time the country adopted additional regulations.

Naser Osmani, chairman of the commission, said steps needed to be taken in drafting a new law on "NGO microfinance institutions with beneficiary status".

Following the conclusion of an agreement between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Cibank on Friday, 1000 Bulgarian SMEs will be eligible to receive EUR 100 M in loans under the programme for Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME).

The Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings has launched the 2015 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report and Scorecard, which evaluates access to and usage of affordable financial services across 21 countries. According to Brookings? FDIP analysis, Turkey ranked sixth among the countries for its financial inclusion efforts. 

Bulgaria's Cash Credit has joined forces with Philippines-based Voyager Innovation to offer mobile-based microfinance services in the Asian country.