Together with group of Belgian impact investors (Alterfin, BIO, BRS, Inpulse, Kampani and Kois) Incofin calls for action to respond to COVID-19 in developing countries. COVID-19 will be remembered as one of the few health crises in human history that had such an extremely widespread impact on the vast majority of the world population. According to the IMF and the World Bank the crisis is exacerbating global poverty and pushing between 40 to 60 million people into extreme poverty in 2020. Especially the lives of the people at the bottom of the pyramid are disrupted.
In the midst of a crisis like this one, our role as Belgian impact-driven investors committed to the economic empowerment of socially deprived populations in developing countries, is more important than ever. We provide financing to impact projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, creating financial and social inclusion by doing so.
Cohesion and cooperation are the way to address this crisis effectively. We applaud the actions that governments and multilateral institutions are taking. However, in crises like this one, especially in emerging countries, a bigger budget is needed to benefit the impact sector as a whole.
This support can be in the form of:
- additional liquidity and equity injection for those institutions facing challenges,
- de-risking mechanisms to provide comfort to risk-minded investors
- subsidies to cover the technical assistance costs, namely those related to internal reorganization to avoid the spread of the pandemic, to develop continuity plans, and to hasten digitalization projects,
- growth capital for the healthcare sector to strengthen first line response, and
- patient financing of value chains which promote a more sustainable agriculture, supporting smallholder farmers around the world.
We are confident that we can step up our actions to continue creating positive impact in the lives of many vulnerable people. We call upon all dedicated actors, public or private, to connect with us, to mobilize resources and to join us in our response.
You can find the full joint statement here:
Press Release Joint Belgian Impact Investors
