FMO helps scale up NASIRA financial guarantee amid COVID-19 crisis

The European Commission, together with Dutch development bank FMO, has scaled up the NASIRA financial guarantee to support small COVID-19 affected entrepreneurs in Africa and EU Neighbourhood.

The measures are a joint response and include a top-up of €25 million from the European Fund for Sustainable Development and an expansion in scope to support COVID-19 affected entrepreneurs. Also, NASIRA - which uses guarantees to allow local banks to on-lend to underserved entrepreneurs - receives €2.5 million from FMO’s Dutch Government Fund MASSIF.