Assistance to Restructuring of State-owned Development Bank

The government of (North) Sudan has taken a decision to restructure the state-owned Savings and Social Development Bank (SSDB) with the objective to (re-) establish it as a specialized provider of financial services to the economically active poor population of the country. While the institution has a long tradition of serving lower income groups, it has recently focused more on business with larger enterprises while microfinance as become a (non-profitable) appendix. The objective of this technical assistance, which is financed by the Central Bank of Sudan, is to develop a business plan for the implementation of best practice microfinance operations under the auspices of SSDB in Sudan.

In the course of the assignment, LFS carried out an institutional capacity assessment of the partner bank, assessed the MSME lending operations of the bank and undertook research on the demand and supply of financial services in Sudan, including a primary market survey in Khartoum State, to obtain in-depth information on the size, structure and distribution of the demand.

Based on this information, LFS elaborated a business and implementation plan as well as financial projections for the restructuring of the partner bank.