IFC to promote mobile digital loans in East Africa to support SMEs

IFC is working with stakeholders across the East Africa region to extend credit information system to cover the digital mobile lenders

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The International Finance Corporation (IFC) said on Thursday it plans to promote the uptake of mobile digital loans in East Africa in order to boost the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Bartol Letica, senior financial sector specialist of the IFC, told journalists in Nairobi that through supporting the development of a credit information system, small entrepreneurs will be able to access credit through their mobile devices.

“Mobile digital loans can help small businesses build a credit history that can be used to access loans from mainstream financial institutions,” Letica said during the launch of the code of conduct for third party credit information providers.

The IFC said that it is working with public and private sector players across the East Africa region to extend the credit information system to cover the digital mobile lenders.

He said that mobile digital loans could become part of an inclusive, reliable and trustworthy credit infrastructure that will allow financial institutions to provide credit to individuals who previously had no access to loans.

Letica added that in Kenya, IFC is part of the technical working group on the development of a credit information system.

He added that Kenya is already a regional leader in the development of a credit information system because it has created a collateral registry for movable assets.

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Xinhua