Access to finance is crucial to farmers and business owners in Kyrgyzstan struggling to succeed. Unfortunately, stringent collateral requirements often keep many small businesses from obtaining loans to grow beyond their family-operated enterprise.

Committed to removing obstacles to economic growth in Kyrgyzstan, USAID helped introduce the concept of guarantee funds and helped establish small regional funds.  Once the funds were established, EWMI’s USAID-funded Collaborative Governance program began working with the government, banks, parliament, and the private sector to improve the Law on Guarantee Funds so that small and medium businesses could easily access it.  With EWMI assistance, key amendments to the law were adopted in 2016.  To date, the funds have issued over 1,000 guarantees, which have helped to create more than 1,600 new jobs and maintain about 6,000 existing jobs across the country.

To learn more, read the story about how a guarantee fund changed the fate of Zuhra, a fruit farmer near Bishkek, and helped create new jobs.