Proparco - the subsidiary of the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement - AFD) and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) have signed a credit facility agreement of USD20 million to reinforce the medium and long term lending capacity of Sacombank, to support its small and medium enterprises (SME) lending activity.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Tran Xuan Huy - CEO of Sacombank and Mr. Jean Michel Severino - CEO of AFD, President of Proparco during the Franco-Vietnamese Forum of Entrepreneurs, in presence of Standing Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Hung and the Prime Minister of France, Mr. François Fillon.

As part of this financing, Proparco also participates to the improvement of Sacombank’s environmental and social practices by assisting the bank to implement a monitoring of the environmental and social impacts of its lending activities.

Moreover, this dollar financing contributes to the stimulus package deployed by the Vietnamese authorities, in an environment where the international financial crisis has made long term financial resources scarcer, illustrating Proparco’s counter cyclical role. Facilitating access to credit for SMEs is indeed one of the critical aspects of the Government’s plan given the essential role of these enterprises for the country’s economy.

Proparco is the subsidiary of the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement - AFD) – France’s main provider of bilateral overseas’ development aid - for the financing of the private sector. Founded in 1977, Proparco provides long term financing in the form of debt or equity to private to banks, infrastructure and industrial projects in over 60 emerging and developing countries. AFD has committed in total in excess of EUR900 million to the public and private sector in Vietnam since it started its operation in this country in the late 90s.