This week IFAD launched  the Platform for Remittances, Investment and Migrants’ Entrepreneurship (PRIME) Central Asia Initiative in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The financing will allow Shinhan Finance to continue providing much-needed longer-term loans and enhance the resilience of smaller enterprises, which are critical for economic growth and job creation.

With the issuance of this Green Bond, Zuoli will finance, amongst others, green buildings and energy efficiency projects in the Zhejiang province.

The loan is intended to boost its services to micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises – especially in rural areas – to “improve financial inclusion and contribute to Kazakhstan’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This loan is ADB's first intervention in Kazakhstan's financial sector in several years. It will support KMF's efforts to improve financial inclusion and contribute to Kazakhstan's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Kazakhstan stand to benefit from a new investment which aims to help businesses recover from the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, resume operations, and adapt to the post-crisis environment.

Li told Reuters in an interview that in “traditional finance” investing in SMEs was rarely worthwhile for global institutions as the due diligence was difficult, risks were high and funding amounts small.

The annual survey on mobile payments showed 98 percent of respondents indicated mobile was their most commonly used payment method, up 5 percentage points from 2019.

Hong Kong-based HKT Financial Services, the Fintech division of the HKT Group, has launched another Fintech project, HKT Flexi, a digital or online financing platform that allows users to make payments via the HKT Flexi App.

As contactless payments become the norm amid the worldwide pandemic response, China rolled out its digital currency this month in four cities, setting it up to become the world’s first cashless society.