IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced an initiative to provide much needed financing and advice to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially to those in difficult to reach segments and in fragile  markets, by lending through emerging market banks and other financial intermediaries.

The Dutch pledged $27 million to IFC’s Global SME Finance Facility, which was established in 2012 in response to the G-20’s call to bridge the trillion dollar financing gap for SMEs. The commitment is made up of $16 million to support risk sharing facilities and $11 million for advisory projects.