The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has extended a seven-year, US$ 65 million (approximately Rs 7.4 billion) financing facility to the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC to expand the latter’s lending to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), a statement by the bank said.

IFC’s largest financial markets investment in Sri Lanka to date, the facility is also the first future flow-backed financing done for a bank in South Asia, and is expected to help about 20,000 small businesses, create improved economic conditions that reduce poverty, and improve access to credit in underserved areas, including the north and east of Sri Lanka.