Bank Alfalah Limited has entered into a USD50 million loan facility with British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance institution.
The agreement, announced on Tuesday, is designed to expand the bank’s lending capacity, with a specific focus on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.
The financing underscores a broader trend of multilateral and development institutions channeling capital into emerging-market banking sectors to bolster credit availability for private businesses.
By partnering with BII, Bank Alfalah gains access to long-term funding that can be deployed at competitive rates, potentially easing liquidity constraints that often hinder SME growth in the region.
This development follows a series of similar arrangements across the developing world.
Recently, Wema Bank in Nigeria finalized a €50 million financing agreement with EIB Global, the development arm of the European Investment Bank, to increase credit for SMEs.