The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $130 million loan to support the short-term financial sustainability of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) to support employment in Bolivia in the face of the COVID-19 crisis and its effects on the productive sector.

The program is expected to benefit approximately 12,000 MSMEs affected by the crisis, with the assistance of credits that will be granted through eligible financial institutions, with an amount greater than 30 percent of total resources going to women-owned companies.

The purpose of the loans is to help companies overcome temporary liquidity problems and protect the jobs they generate and, at the same time, allow their business continuity and operations.

In this sense, the program seeks to mitigate the restrictions on access to credit faced by MSMEs, affected by the COVID-19 crisis, to preserve the productive sector, reduce the burden on social protection systems, and improve the speed of economic recovery in the aftermath of the health emergency. The $130 million IDB loan has a repayment period of 21.75 years and a grace period of 10.75 years.