June 16 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that it has approved a loan of 8 million euro ($8.3 million) to Banca Intesa Beograd in Serbia to aid the development of women-led businesses.
The financing is provided under the EBRD's Women in Business programme and will be supplemented with grants and technical support from Sweden, the lender said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Women in Business programme is also supported by Luxembourg, Sweden and the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund and promotes investments, training and mentoring to encourage female entrepreneurship.
"As the first bank in Serbia to join the Women in Business programme, we have so far supported more than 2,500 women entrepreneurs with over 25.8 million euro in loans, helping them to develop their businesses and achieve professional ambitions," the executive board president of Banca Intesa in Serbia, Darko Popovic, said.
The EBRD's Women in Business programme has provided more than 57 million euro in credit lines to more than 4,800 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across the Western Balkans since its launch there in 2014.
Banca Intesa Beograd is part of the Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo, which focuses on 12 markets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
($ = 0.9616 euro)
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