Microfinance Focus, January 5, 2012: The SANAD Fund that serves Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa has signed a $5 million loan agreement with BLC Bank in Lebanon.

BLC will be deploying this loan to further expand its lending program to small enterprises in the country.

SANAD was initiated in August 2011 by KfW Entwicklungsbank (The German Development Bank) with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission.

The $33.5 million fund will initially operate in Egypt, Jordan Lebanon and Tunisia. Later it will expand to other countries in the region.

Since the fund’s inception, investment worth $8 million has been approved for its partner institutions.