Cisco Systems’ financing arm, Cisco Capital, is dedicating $2 billion per year in short-term inventory financing capacity for its channel partners in emerging countries.

Together with Citibank, GE Capital Solutions and Standard Chartered Bank, Cisco Capital is extending the new financing to channel partners in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central and Eastern Europe. Cisco is also expanding its coverage of end-user leasing programs in those markets.

The move was funded in part by a $500-million short-term growth capital fund Cisco announced last year.

Cisco’s continued drive into emerging markets is directed toward small and medium business customers in particular. Financing programs allow customers to pay for products over time. In the past 12 months, Cisco has added seven specialty distributors in emerging markets and increased the number of channel partners it has there by 20%. Cisco Capital recently established leasing programs in South Africa, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. In its 2007 fiscal year, the company plans to extend financing to small and medium businesses in Central America and the Caribbean, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Poland, Argentina and Chile.