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US Grants East African Development Bank 800 million Shillings
THE United States Trade and Development Agency has offered the East African Development Bank a grant worth $473,050 (Shs851.5 million) to finance East African SME. The United States Ambassador to Uganda, Steven Browning, and the East African Development Bank Director General, Godfrey Tumusiime, signed the grant agreement on behalf of the US government and the EADB.
The availability of long-term financing remains one of the critical challenges affecting the acceleration of economic growth in East Africa. And while equity financing is thriving in East Africa, it is not specifically favourable to SMEs. The current equity financing often seeks investments greater than $2 million, (Shs3.6 billion) which is higher than those of a typical SME, and is usually only available from banks that do not provide permanent equity financing.
Small businesses are expect ed to play an important role in Africa's development, particularly in fostering economic growth, spurring innovation, creating employment, and providing inputs for larger enterprises.
They're also pivotal in developing public-private partnership infrastructure projects. EADB has selected Structured Credit International Corporation, a New York-based financial advisory firm, to provide the technical assistance.
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