The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) or the Central Bank, is supporting the recently signed credit guarantee agreements because of what this will do for the Micro to Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector in the country going forward. The credit guarantee agreements were signed between the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) Papua New Guinea (PNG) and ten financial institutions on Thursday 18th January in Port Moresby to make way for MSME entrepreneurs to have ease of access to financial support for their business operations. The BPNG Governor, Ms. Elizabeth Genia said the Bank is in support of this initiative and is committed to see it becoming successful. “CGC will provide credit guarantee to financial institutions, the guarantee will reduce the credit risk of the lenders and allow them to extend finance to customers and support ventures that may have previously considered too risky,” said Ms. Genia. She said the arrangement is firmly in line with several strategic government initiatives designed to build the PNG economy. These strategic initiatives include the SME Policy, the PNG Development Strategic Plan, BPNG Vision 2050 and the government’s Vision 2050 as well, the Financial Inclusion Policy, the Inclusive Green Finance Policy and the recently launched Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 4. The Governor said that the result of the credit guarantee initiative will see a positive impact on MSME owners and their families, socially and economically. It will also be an inspiration for other people to start enterprises and innovations, so to financially boost their local area. This will lead to the creation of more employment and generate revenue for the government to fund infrastructure and local services. “It gives the MSME sector the opportunity to become a sustainable economic growth powerhouse that the sector has the potential to be.” Ms. Genia explained that the Bank continues its efforts also to support the growth of the MSME sector through its own initiatives like working with the Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI), which provides financial literacy training to support small business owners, and for the CGC to partner with financial institutions in the country to support the MSMEs, it is something the Bank fully welcomes.