This archive report was first published on 30 November 2019.
On November 28, 2019, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (AGF) signed a $30 million agreement to improve access to credit for African SMEs.
The deal, which was signed in Paris, will enable AGF to extend guarantees of $60 million to local financial institutions, allowing them to lend up to $120 million to African SMEs. This is estimated to benefit 1,800 SMEs and support 5,400 jobs.
Through the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, AGF aims to increase African women's access to finance. The initiative was launched earlier this week at the Global Gender Summit, and AFD and AGF are currently exploring different modalities of support for this initiative.
AGF is a non-bank financial institution that promotes economic development, increases employment, and reduces poverty in Africa by providing financial institutions with guarantee products and capacity development assistance.
AGF was founded by the government of Denmark, the government of Spain, and the African Development Bank, and has a rating of AA- by Fitch Ratings Agency.
