CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF) provides US$122K in Technical Assistance to Thirty-Four (34) Small and Midsized Enterprises in St Lucia for RE/EE Initiatives
Bridgetown, Barbados; January 18, 2024 – The CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF) has deployed technical assistance to 34 SMEs across various sectors in St Lucia valued at USD122,000 with just over 47% of the SMEs being women own or managed. This technical assistance will be delivered in the form of energy audits, renewable energy assessments and the preparation of bankable proposals. Three St Lucian energy services providers (EcoCarib Limited, HD Caribbean and Gearing Up Limited) have been awarded contracts to provide these services, which commenced on January 16th, 2024, and will culminate with the presentation of finalized reports to the beneficiary SMEs by the middle of May 2024. Detailed reports containing sound energy and financial analyses will present a convincing case to either of the two financial institutions on-boarded to CRAF: The St Lucia Development Bank and The Bank of St Lucia, to provide funding supported via the CRAF Credit Risk Instrument. The CRAF Credit Risk Instrument provides up to 80% guarantee on loans accessed by SMEs from financial institutions that have been onboarded to CRAF, for loans ranging from US$25,000 to US$750,000.
CRAF was designed primarily to address access to funding challenges which have limited the deployment of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency technologies in CDF Member States. The facility aims to incentivise additional lending from local financing institutions for renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) interventions with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in all productive sectors with emphasis on tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing. CRAF comprises an ecosystem of support involving a Credit Risk Instrument (CRI), a Technical Assistance Program (TAP) and a robust Monitoring and Evaluation framework. SMEs that would not normally qualify to access loans for RE and EE implementation are now able to do so as a result of the partial risk guarantee offer as part of the CRAF Credit Risk Instrument.
For more information of CRAF please visit our website: https://craf.org
About CDF The CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) (www.caricomdevelopmentfund.org) established in 2008 is a key developmental mechanism in the architecture of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and is committed to achieving its vision to lead in providing effective, efficient and sustainable solutions that address the challenges faced by disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors participating in the CSME. In so doing its mission is to assist its Member States (namely Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago) in maximising the benefits arising from participation in the CSME, by reducing intra-regional disparities through effective partnerships and the provision of financial and technical assistance.
