ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC—The ACB Caribbean Group mentioned it signed an settlement with the Barbados-based CARICOM Improvement Fund (CDF) to reinforce financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in renewable vitality and vitality effectivity initiatives in Antigua, Barbuda, and Grenada.
In a press release Monday, the ACB Caribbean Group, previously the Antigua Industrial Financial institution Ltd., mentioned that signing the Grasp Assure Settlement below the Credit score Danger Abatement Facility (CRAF) marks a milestone in sustainable finance and local weather resilience within the area.
The CRAF initiative is designed to help SMEs by mobilising capital by credit score enhancement and providing focused technical help. It tackles head-on the often-cited problem that banks aren’t supportive of small companies.
“The ACB Caribbean Group is thrilled to signal the Credit score Danger Abatement Facility (CRAF) settlement …alongside the CARICOM Improvement Fund. This initiative straight aligns with the implementation of our strategic plan for the following three years, and we’re desirous to roll it out in each Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada,” mentioned ACB Caribbean Group common supervisor Joanna Charles.
The assertion mentioned the CRAF helps SMEs by the banking sector for renewable vitality and vitality effectivity initiatives by offering credit score enhancement and focused technical help.
“This aligns with a number of key areas of our strategic plan – implementing a sensible and significant ESG technique and empowering our prospects with entry to financing and help as they undertake sustainable, environmentally aware enterprise practices.
“ACB Caribbean Group is proud to be the primary lending establishment to signal this settlement in our territories. We’re enthusiastic about what the longer term holds for our prospects and future generations who will profit from this program.”
The CDF’s chief govt officer, Rodinald Soomer, emphasised the significance of together with the personal sector in local weather resilience methods.
“It’s important to shut the circle on resilience constructing by bringing the personal sector entrance and heart into nationwide and regional efforts at implementing a long-term sustainable response to local weather change mitigation and systematic adaptation to its impacts.
“Inside this context, the CDF is happy to welcome the ACB Caribbean Group as a strategic financing associate to the Credit score Danger Abatement Facility,” Soomer mentioned, including that “this can be a most opportune time to advance this endeavor, given the more and more pressing want for entry to home and regional financing for the vitality transition within the Caribbean — significantly in mild of the escalating impacts of local weather change and up to date geopolitical developments.
He added, “Now greater than ever, we should collaborate to design and scale viable, home-grown, and sustainable growth options. ”
The partnership marks a robust alignment between the 2 organizations’ objectives, with ACB Caribbean Group’s customer-focused small enterprise program pivoting to making sure that numerous enterprise wants are met throughout each territories.
“The signing represents a shared imaginative and prescient to drive environmental sustainability, local weather resilience, and financial empowerment all through the area,” the assertion added.
