The World Bank's International Finance Corporation is to set up a risk-sharing facility with Papua New Guinea's Bank South Pacific for five million US dollars in loans to Kongo Coffee Ltd, the country's largest locally owned coffee exporter.
The financing deal will help the company buy more coffee from farmers, meet market demand, and create more jobs.
Kongo Coffee's managing director, Jerry Kapka, says the IFC guarantee means Bank South Pacific will now be able lend the company the money its needs to triple our coffee processing capacity to six tons per hour.
He says this means it will be able to purchase more coffee beans from local farmers and increase exports.
The company mostly buys its coffee from remote communities in Chimbu province, where more than 100,000 people rely on the coffee industry for jobs and income.
Most of its suppliers are small growers who own less than two and a half hectares of land.
In addition, IFC will provide advice to Kongo Coffee to improve its corporate governance, internal systems, and management skills.
