One of the strategic priorities of IFC in the Middle East and North Africa region is to focus on frontier markets, which include many nations affected by conflict. IFC has a key role to play in meeting the financing needs of the private sector as well as in addressing broader private sector development issues in these countries.
Drawing on the lessons learned from IFC's previous work around the world, three areas are being targeted by the combination of a limited number of highly catalytic investments with broader advisory services programs:
- Financial sector development
- Infrastructure development
- Enterprise development, especially in key sectors such as agribusiness and construction to create employment opportunities, and offer immediate opportunities to the most underprivileged segments of the population
Rebuilding Efforts in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, IFC’s strategy is to focus on selective, catalytic private investments in the financial and business sectors. IFC has committed over $57 million in investments for projects, including mobile phone services, banking, microfinance, and the renovation and expansion of a landmark hotel in Kabul.
In coordination with the rest of the World Bank Group and in alignment with donor strategies, IFC’s Advisory Services are helping Afghanistan strengthen the financial sector, support small and medium enterprises in key sectors such as agribusiness, build practical business skills of Afghan entrepreneurs and assist the government with regulatory frameworks in the leasing and housing sectors.
A Fruitful Project in Afghanistan |  | IFC Helps Smaller Businesses in Afghanistan |
In May 2006, IFC began a comprehensive advisory program to improve the production and marketing of two of the most promising agricultural products in Kandahar: raisins and pomegranates. The project addressed every step from growing the fruit to marketing it.
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IFC's most effective way of reaching smaller businesses is to help build commercially viable microfinance institutions. These institutions finance credit worthy low-income entrepreneurs, most of them women, who otherwise would have no access to finance from mainstream banks.
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More Afghan SMEs Gain
Access to Lease Finance |
Leasing represents an attractive financing alternative especially in challenging and high-risk markets such as Afghanistan. IFC worked with the Afghanistan Finance Company, the first leasing company in the country, to build the capacity of its staff and improve its outreach to clients. Read more...
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In Lebanon |
IFC was the first multilateral institution to provide funds to the private sector under the January 2007 Paris III accords. IFC is leading the World Bank Group's efforts on postconflict private sector development and investing in the country’s local banks and businesses. Since the end of the conflict, IFC has signed projects worth $135 million, including the first four transactions in a package of support to banks, which will increase access to finance for private sector companies and individuals who were adversely affected by the conflict. |
Investing in Recovery | | Microfinance: A Development Tool |
In January 2007, when the international community met in Paris to garner donor support to help rebuild Lebanon, IFC pledged up to $275 million in financing and agreed to lead the World Bank Group’s efforts on the country’s private sector development.
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In January 2007, IFC’s Advisory Services in the Middle East and North Africa – PEP-MENA, organized a roundtable on “Reconstruction Microfinance in Conflict-Affected Areas” in Beirut to share relevant international experiences with Lebanese microfinance institutions and banks. Read more...
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