The Burmese government’s SME Bank wants to increase its total capital to about US $40 million in order to expand its lending to small and medium enterprises, the bank’s advisor San Thein told The Irrawaddy. Speaking on the sidelines of a SME forum in Rangoon on Sunday, he said, “We are planning to run more than 5 billion kyat [$5.8 million] plus 30 billion kyat [$34.8 million] in this first round of a microfinance project supported by Myanma Economic Bank,” which is another state-owned commercial bank. He said annual interest rates would also be lowered from 13 percent to 8.5 percent for three-year loans to small and medium enterprises.
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