Ivory Coast’s SME Credit Guarantee Company (SGPME) and Cofina Côte d’Ivoire signed an agreement in Abidjan on October 21 establishing two credit-guarantee facilities worth a combined CFA8 billion, according to a statement published by SGPME on October 26. The arrangement is intended to help smaller businesses gain access to loans when they struggle to meet lenders’ usual security requirements.
The facilities comprise CFA5 billion in partial portfolio guarantees and CFA3 billion in individual guarantees. The portfolio scheme allows Cofina to share some of the risk on loans meeting eligibility standards agreed with SGPME. Under the individual scheme, Cofina first assesses an applicant, after which SGPME makes its own decision on the guarantee.
The risk-sharing arrangement is designed to give the lender more scope to finance businesses whose limited collateral makes borrowing difficult. The announced CFA8 billion refers to guarantee capacity, not the value of loans already paid out to small firms. The agreement does not provide a tally of credit actually granted under the new facilities.
According to Cofina, the programme covers microbusinesses with annual turnover of up to CFA150 million, SMEs with turnover above that level and up to CFA1 billion, and mid-sized firms with turnover of up to CFA3 billion. Eligible credit can run for no more than five years. Cofina says guarantees cover at least 50% of qualifying loans and can reach 80% for businesses majority-owned by women.
The application route depends on the instrument. A business can request an individual SGPME guarantee when seeking a loan from Cofina, subject to separate assessments by both institutions. Under the portfolio scheme, eligible loans receive the agreed risk coverage without the borrower filing an additional guarantee request.