Small & Medium Enterprise Development Credit Authority (SME DCA)
Start date: September 1, 2007
End date: September 1, 2014
Guarantee Facility: $9 million in loans
Implementers: UNIBANKA and NLB Leasing
Objectives
The SME Development Credit Authority facility, the first of its kind in Macedonia, provides access to working and investment capital for companies that want to expand their operations or market opportunities.
The USAID Competitiveness Project works with the SME DCA facility to improve access to capital, which is a major obstacle to the growth of private sector SMEs in Macedonia. The DCA targets SMEs in sectors identified by the Competitiveness Project.
Components
Loan portfolio guarantee program: A seven-year, $9 million facility through which USAID provides a 50 percent guarantee of the guaranteed ceiling, thus sharing the risk with partner banks. Includes a disbursement period of two years and maximum loan tenure of five years.
Achievements/Impact
Export-led growth is constrained by banks’ misperceptions about the risks associated with lending to SMEs and the resulting over-collateralization requirements they impose in order to minimize their risk. With this DCA, USAID is mobilizing private financing for targeted industries that receive technical assistance. The short-term result is increased SME competitiveness and value-added exports. The longer-term results will help establish SMEs’ creditworthiness and demonstrate to the local market the financial viability of targeted industry supply chains. To date, both financial institutions have issued over 40 loans/leasing to 35 companies in various sectors, for a total amount of over $2,000,000. These loans have helped generate over 70 new jobs and exports of over $100,000.
Contact Information
Contact at USAID: Margareta Lipkovska Atanasov, COTR mlipkovska@usaid.gov
Marija Tanasoska, NLB Leasing marija.tanasoska@nlblizing.com.mk
Biljana Trpkoska, UNIBanka biljana.trpkoska@unibank.com.mk