Research finds that the Symbiotics portfolio is recovering from the crisis stemming from the pandemic and its partners from the Caucasus region are following a similar trend, but at a slower pace. 

International Women's Forum member Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO of Women’s World Banking, shares three key points for expanding women’s financial inclusion in response to the impact of the ongoing pandemic.

The credit rating agency opined that adequate system liquidity, along with sufficient capital buffers, provides enough cushion to navigate the challenges from a subdued operating environment.

Women, youth and micro, small and medium enterprises in Africa are most at-risk of financial exclusion during COVID-19, say Bank of Tanzania and Alliance for Financial Inclusion.

The loan will help smaller businesses across a range of sectors in Kenya access financing for working capital, expansion, and to weather the effects of COVID-19.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania will improve their access to finance with a new investment that aims to support SMEs, including women entrepreneurs impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ongoing shifts toward e-commerce, digital payments (including contactless), and instant payments have all been significantly boosted during the pandemic with real-time payments surging by 104 percent.

Loan restructuring applications peaked in April-May with the second wave of COVID-19, reaching about 20,000 applications per week, and are now down to about 2,000 per week.

The fourth and final SME Finance Loans for Growth (LFG) impact report shows how SMEs in emerging and frontier markets benefit from access to finance, as well as how they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.