ADB lends Credo Bank $46M to fund small businesses across Georgia

What's the deal? The Asian Development Bank (ADB)Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has signed a GEL120 million loan, worth about $46 million, with JSC Credo Bank to expand financing for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Georgia, including women-owned businesses. The focus is on entrepreneurs outside the capital, Tbilisi.

What's the endgame? The loan addresses a gap in local currency lending, particularly borrowing with longer repayment terms. By lending in Georgian lari, it reduces the foreign exchange risk businesses face when they take on debt in another currency but earn income at home.

Who's behind it? ADB and Credo Bank have worked together since 2015, building a partnership that expanded MSME lending and supported rural agricultural businesses. Their cooperation included countercyclical support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Credo Bank's roots in rural microfinance give it a strong presence across Georgia's regions, serving small businesses, farmers, and rural households. Chief executive officer Zaza Pirtskhelava called the transaction "a further expansion of access to local currency funding for regional MSMEs."

ADB Country Director for Georgia Lesley Bearman Lahm tied the financing to wider business opportunities and economic growth across the country's regions, where she said local enterprises need "dependable financial services to support their development."

The signal: ADB has backed Georgia since 2007 and is its largest multilateral development partner, with loans, grants, and technical assistance exceeding $6 billion, including more than $1 billion for the private sector. The Credo Bank deal fits ADB's 2024–2028 strategy to develop Georgia into a green and inclusive regional gateway, extending finance to entrepreneurs beyond the capital.

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