Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, has made a loan investment of $55 million in Siddhart Bank Ltd.
Issuing a statement, the commercial bank said it is the biggest loan amount provided by the IFC to a Nepali Bank to date. IFC’s loan is the first ever foreign currency syndicated loan facility in the financial sector categorized as external commercial borrowing to a bank in Nepal. According to the bank, the money borrowed from the IFC will be used for MSME and climate financing.
The bank said in the statement that it will also utilize the loan to finance energy efficiency projects such as solar projects, low carbon mobility projects such as electric vehicles, water efficiency projects, climate-smart agriculture, manufacturing of energy-efficient appliances, etc.
Siddhartha Bank is a member of IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program and was recently awarded by the IFC as the Best Operations Bank in South Asia 2021.
