‘Ebdaa’ underway

AGFUND provides $2 million out of the $5 million-capital of microcredit lender

The Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) said that its president, Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, signed on Monday (19 December) the accreditation of AGFUND’s share in the bank for the poor in Lebanon.

According to the founding agreement, AGFUND has contributed $2 million to the institution’s capital. The total capital is $5 million. The remaining amount will be provided through private individual investors.

The Central Bank has approved the establishment of the microcredit lender as a financial institution, which will be listed under the name ‘Ebdaa’. AGFUND said that Ebdaa will begin operations in 2012.

Ebdaa will target underprivileged individuals and provide them with loans to develop their small enterprises. Loans provided through the institution will start from $500 at an interest rate of ten percent. Once a client repays the loan, they can reapply for loans of up to $100,000.

AGFUND currently operates four banks for the poor located in Jordon, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria. It said that over two million Arabs have benefitted from the microcredit provided through those banks. The program will also launch a bank for the poor in Sudan, followed by another in Sierra Leone.