IADB agrees $12bn loan scheme to boost Mexican SMEs amid COVID-19 crisis

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Mexican Business Council have unveiled a programme to provide $12 billion in loans a year to small and medium-sized businesses in the country to help deal with the coronavirus crisis.

They said in a joint statement that the plan was supported by Mexico's finance ministry and aimed to help some 30,000 firms. The accord sought to build a $3 billion program in reverse factoring lines of credit that would complement schemes that IDB Invest already runs in Mexico.

Annual financing of up to $12 billion in either Mexican pesos or dollars would be made available via a revolving credit averaging 90 days in duration.