Sebastian Molineus on World Bank's EUR85 Million Project to Georgia

The World Bank continues to intervene in the Georgian economy. The International Finance Institute has provided € 85 million in financial assistance to the country to create jobs and support companies affected by the pandemic.

''It is a pleasure to be here today to talk about a new, EUR 85 million project, World Bank project, in support of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that have been particularly hard hit during the COVID pandemic. And I’m pleased that we are proceeding with this intervention, which comes as a broader World Bank package. During phase one, during the very initial onset of the COVID pandemic the World Bank provided immediate support for better health as well as social protection incomes. Number two, we provided much needed budget support to the government, along with many of our development partners and the International Monetary Fund. And now, in this very critical phase two, where we see a renewed wave of COVID cases, we are focusing on additional financing in support of the vaccination effort, and now again, an EUR 85 million project in support of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that have been very hard hit during this pandemic,''-said Sebastian Molineus. 

He also discusses why it is so important to focus on micro, small and medium enterprises.

''Now, why is it so important to focus on MSMEs? – well, we all know that MSMEs form the backbone of the Georgian economy: 99% of all active enterprises are MSMEs, MSMEs provide 64% of employment, and 61% of value addition. So, clearly, we see that micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises have traditionally played an important role here in Georgia’s economy, and are now going to play a critical role in terms of building back better, providing new economic growth as we pivot forward into a new age post COVID pandemic.

This project is going to reach approximately 6,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and will contain two very basic components. The first component is more of a short-term focus, providing grants to micro enterprises, providing interest rate co-financing for small sized enterprises, and then providing support to more medium and larger enterprises in terms of the existing credit guarantee scheme, which we aim to make more efficient and even more effective than it is already today. And very importantly, there’s a very important component that is crosscutting for all micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that will focus on providing COVID-proofing as well as digitization support, because we know that those enterprises that move online, that can digitize themselves will actually see their sales grow moving forward.

The second main component is more of a medium to long-term component, that will focus on upgrading the current instant payment system, providing support for a digital Know Your Customer (KYC) component, or the aspect of it, and finally, providing support for secured transactions reform, which will again, make access to finance for all enterprises here in Georgia easier moving forward,''-said Sebastian Molineus.

The World Bank is delighted to be a partner of Georgia, for the government, for its people and now for its micro, small and medium-sized enterprises..