NDB obtains US$ 75m loan to promote financial inclusion

PROPARCO, a French Development Finance Institution, has allocated a US $ 60 million line of credit to National Development Bank PLC (NDB), with an additional US $ 15 million from its Dutch counterpart, FMO, under a joint facility to support the financing of projects in the renewable energies, agro-industry and water supply sectors.

NDB Deputy Chairman, Ashok Pathirage and Chief Executive Officer, Rajendra Theagarajah signed the agreement in Rotterdam, Netherlands recently.

NDB was founded in 1979 by the national authorities as a development bank and started developing on the retail market in 2001.

It now offers all the services of a universal bank, but retains its DNA as a development bank, which makes it an ideal partner to support projects that contribute to sustainable growth and job creation in Sri Lanka.

NDB enjoys real expertise in financing long-term projects (18% of its portfolio), particularly in the renewable energies sector.

Since 1997, it has supported 26 mini-hydro projects and half of the eight wind farms. NDB is also active in supporting SMEs for which it has developed a specific range of banking products.

Over 3,000 projects were financed in 2013.