Rural financial system development, Phase III

completed

The FC projects Financial System Development in Rural Areas Phases III and IV aim to support the emerging structural change in rural areas in Serbia by providing a sustainably improved range of financial services. Both projects consistently continue KfW's rural financial system development strategy. The projects will contribute to broadening and deepening the Serbian financial sector and increasing the competitiveness of rural MSMEs (common overarching development policy goal). Various selected Serbian financial institutions are intermediaries. They receive long-term refinancing in order to provide the target groups with financing products tailored to the needs of the final borrowers. The target groups of the FC projects are agricultural enterprises in primary production, as well as micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the upstream and downstream production stages and other economic sectors that want to invest in rural areas. The MSMEs are to be supported by an improved range of financial services to make modernization investments in order to increase their efficiency and competitiveness and to create potential for alternative income and employment opportunities in rural areas. With this broadening of the sectoral focus, the projects differ from the previous projects under rural financial system development, as well as through their respective product design. In addition, we are examining an accompanying measure (BM) under this program proposal (PV) in the amount of EUR 1.5 million (BMZ No. 2014.7040.0).