Microfinance market necessity at 18.8bn lei

The necessary microfinance amount for the 43,700 small and medium-sized companies registered in Moldova, 124,000 members of savings and loan associations, 45,000 patent holders, 150,000 farmland owners and 10,000 private companies totals about 18.8 billion lei, said the head of the Organizations for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Promotion Iulia Iabanji, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a study made by the Organization, only 5.6 billion lei (30%) of the necessary amount was covered in 2009. The commercial banks accounted for 4.2 billion lei, the microfinance organizations – for 1 billion lei, the savings and loan associations – for 322 million lei, while the leasing companies – for 80 million lei. ”The commercial banks during the last few years have devoted increased attention to microfinance. They have provided more loans to the SME Sector. But the demand for financial resources on the part of the SMEs and other forms of enterprises will not be satisfied if there is no well-planned network of microfinance organizations and if the legislation is not improved so that these organizations work efficiently and provide the products and services needed by small enterprises, becoming thus an alternative to banks,” Iulia Iabanji said in a thematic conference. Ema Tabarta, deputy governor of the National Bank of Moldova, said the microfinance organizations should not be regarded as rivals to the commercial banks. If they responsibly provide substantial loans, they will contribute to the development of loyal and efficient competition on Moldova’s financial market. Microinvest director general Artur Munteanu, a representative of the committee for financial services of the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova, formulated several demands as regards the development of microfinance organizations in Moldova. According to him, the state must augment the guarantee funds by at least 20 million lei so as to provide guarantees for the loans released by microfinance organizations. These organizations should concentrate on attracting cheap money, not only from foreign loans, but also from the national market, while the beneficiaries of microfinance, like the SMEs, should increase their own capital, diversify the client base and allocate more money for training the founders. There are 15 commercial banks, 35 microfinance organizations, over 400 savings and loan associations, and 27 leasing companies in Moldova.