Rural Finance Project (APL #1)

closed

Closed

The Rural Finance Program seeks to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in rural Romania. To pursue this objective, the project assists in accelerating the economic transformation of the rural economy by increasing the flow of investment capital to the sector; augmenting the private sector's role in the rural economy; facilitating accession to the European Union; and alleviating rural poverty by financing farm and off-farm investments for poor segments of the rural population which currently have no access to credit. There are two main project components beside the project management component. The first component finances sub-loans on-lent through private intermediary banks (PIBs) to eligible private sector borrowers; micro-loans disbursed through participating non-governmental and/or private Service Providers (SPs) to rural entrepreneurs; and leasing of depreciable capital assets by PIBs and leasing companies to final beneficiaries. The second component finances incremental expenditures incurred in 1) developing suitable technologies to provide retail financial services to medium, small, and micro enterprises and entrepreneurs in rural localities through participating private retail banks (PRBs) and microcredit service providers; 2) establishing and operating a network of pilot retail banking offices; 3) operating, by SPs, a network of microcredit retail points; and 4) training and technical assistance in retail banking and micro-lending to PRBs and SPs, respectively.

FY17 - Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry,FY17 - Public Administration,Financial Sector

World Bank Group

Project

Raw Materials, Government