BBVA Microfinance Foundation Leads International Financing for Development, Second to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The ranking, elaborated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and presented in Paris yesterday, is based on the statistics shared by more than 30 major foundations from member countries. For the first time, BBVA Microfinance Foundation has reported information from 2019 and has been acknowledged as forerunner in financing for development, second only to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the report, the BBVAMF Group disbursed $1.2 billion in 2018 (EUR 1 billion) in microcredits to low-income entrepreneurs in Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic and Panama. “86 percent of the loans were disbursed between Colombia and Peru, where the most notable programs we financed focus on environmental sustainability or women’s economic empowerment, given that they are more than half of the people we support”, confirms Gabriela Gil, Finance manager and controller of the BBVAMF. Sector-wise, 45 percent of the disbursements finance small trade and 20 percent goes to agriculture and husbandry.