CABEI celebrates micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on their day by supporting them in the protection of more than 76 thousand jobs in the region

24/06/2022

•In the last two years, the multilateral has disbursed more than US$501 million from the MSME Support Facility through allied intermediary financial institutions.

Tegucigalpa, June 27th, 2022.- 99% of the nearly 1.6 million companies operating in the region are MSMEs; 83% micro and 16% small and medium enterprises. This important sector represents more than 65% of the economically active population and are the main employment generation source in the region, according to the Economic Impact Report on the COVID-19 pandemic effect on MSMEs in Central America from the Regional Center for the Promotion of MSMEs (CENPROMYPE).

Because of its importance in reducing poverty, promoting development and boosting the regional economy is why every June 27 is commemorated internationally as MSME Day, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) commemorates it having become its main financial support during the pandemic and its economic recovery in the last two years, a period in which the multilateral managed to protect 76,542 jobs through the implementation of its Financial Sector Support Facility for the Financing of MSMEs.

"We are very pleased to know that CABEI has become the key financial ally of thousands of small entrepreneurs who were economically devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them to maintain their productive activities by lending them a hand at the right time, something we are still doing and will continue to do. Proof of this is that, as part of the approvals made from 2020 to date, financing has been granted to 5,328 MSMEs in the region," said CABEI Executive President Dante Mossi.

Over US$501 million has been channeled in two years through CABEI's network of allied intermediary financial institutions in the region, generating 5,313 subloans, 50% of which have been granted to microenterprises.

The main beneficiaries include the wholesale and retail trade, construction and infrastructure, service providers, hotels and tourism, and agri-food production, among many others.     

The "Financial Sector Support Facility for Financing MSMEs" is one of the components of the "Emergency COVID-19 Support and Preparedness, and Economic Reactivation Program" developed and launched by CABEI in April 2020 with the financial and technical support of strategic allies such as the European Union, the Government of Germany through KfW, the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) of the United States and UN Women.  

Back