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Islamic Development Bank and Standard Chartered to Support SMEs With COVID-19 Stimulus Packages

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) will participate in Islamic Development Bank’s (IsDB) Restore Track Program aimed at supporting IsDB’s member countries’ SMEs through stimulus packages.

IsDB President Dr. Bandar Hajjar and M. Sunil Kaushal, CEO for Africa and Middle East, SCB signed a Memorandum of Agreement for this collaboration.

This agreement leverages on IsDB’s US$2 billion “COVID Guarantee Facility” to establish an operational cooperation framework for IsDB and SCB to facilitate financing arrangements to IsDB’s member countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted international financial channels and put pressure on hard currency inflows in emerging markets.

This pressure led to considerable limitations of the private sector’s access to financial liquidity. Combined with the loss of income due to reduced demand, the health crisis poses unprecedented challenges to the private sector and especially SMEs.

Through its cooperation with Standard Chartered Bank, IsDB aims to help alleviate some of these pressures by providing blended lines of finance to local banks at competitive prices.