The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan intends to amend its legal acts «to stimulate financial and credit organizations to provide financing to women engaged in entrepreneurial activities and small and medium businesses.» The document has been submitted for public discussion.
Recall, Kyrgyzstan currently has a program to support and develop women’s entrepreneurship for 2022-2026, the purpose of which is to implement reforms, measures and actions aimed at creating favorable conditions for investment, development of women’s entrepreneurship, as well as economic growth through optimization of state regulation, improvement of the quality of the institutional environment, formation of adequate social and industrial infrastructure in the regions as a whole.
However, despite the significant contribution of women to the country’s economy and individual support measures, they face barriers in obtaining financing for the development of their businesses. According to various estimates, women entrepreneurs working in the field of micro and small businesses experience difficulties in providing sufficient collateral, confirming a stable income and obtaining the necessary information about financial products. As a result, women apply for loans less often and receive smaller amounts of financing compared to male entrepreneurs, which hinders the development of female entrepreneurship.
As the bank notes, the changes will help to consolidate the definition of «female entrepreneurship» in documents. This, in turn, will increase the availability of financial resources by improving the regulation of non-collateral loans and taking into account the specifics of female entrepreneurship.
Norms will be established on the development and implementation by banks and small and medium-sized businesses of lending programs aimed at developing female entrepreneurship and taking into account the specifics of female entrepreneurship when assessing the creditworthiness of borrowers.
Additionally, the amendments will clarify limits on non-collateral loans, criteria for evaluating borrowers’ financial capacity, target usage requirements, and lending procedures. These measures are expected to improve efficiency and reduce banking risks.
