Rural Finance and Small Enterprise Development Project

The first IFAD-funded project in Moldova had the objective of investing in activities that could generate sustainable increases in the incomes of poor farmers. The IFAD loan financed:

• support for savings and credit associations to enable them to  provide access to lending and savings for people without access to the services of formal financial institutions
• loans through revolving credit funds for small and medium-sized enterprises to allow them to  expand their businesses and modernize their equipment

The project’s innovative features included:

• developing a synergy among funding sources
• supporting a deposit insurance scheme
• performing a brokerage role at local level
• contracting for specialized technical services for village-based organizations

Source: IFAD