Tunisia - Hannibal Lease (Africa SME Program)

This project, named "Hannibal Lease" for a € 8 million Line of Credit, is part of the Africa SME Program. This Africa SME Program is a 4-year USD 125 million program sponsored by the Bank to support local financial intermediaries’ (FIs) lending activities to SMEs in Africa. Specifically, It's expected to provide standardized lines of credit (LOCs) to at least 25 FIs for on-lending to SMEs. Beneficiary FIs could be banks or regulated non-bank financial institutions such as leasing and factoring companies, and microfinance institutions (MFIs). LOCs offered to MFIs are aimed at supporting their lending activities to SMEs (mainly to small enterprises) rather than micro-lending. In addition, the LOCs are expected to have a tenor of 4 to 7 years, a size ranging between USD 1 million and USD 9 million, and will be provided in local currency when possible. At least 65 per cent of the total available envelope targets low-income countries and fragile states.