OREANDA-NEWS.  The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) announces three loans to support the development of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Azerbaijan through credit lines of USD 5 million, USD 10 million and USD 4 million provided to Unibank, FINCA Azerbaijan and TBC Kredit, respectively. 

“SMEs represent a key source of growth in the non-energy sector of the Azerbaijani economy, and we are pleased to partner with local financial institutions in expanding the BSTDB SME finance program and enhance the availability of funds to private entrepreneurship in the country” commented Andrey Kondakov, BSTDB President, after the signing of the loan agreements during the Business Forum in Baku.

The BSTDB portfolio in Azerbaijan is EUR 103 million and includes 19 approved operations supporting primarily SME development.

The BSTDB credit line to Unibank builds upon successful eight-year cooperation between the two banks, implementing BSTDB Trade Finance and SME Support Programs in Azerbaijan. With the new facility, the BSTDB credit lines made available to Unibank for SME financing totaled USD 15 million.

The credit line to FINCA Azerbaijan will help increase the much-needed funding to small business development, especially in rural areas of the country.

The loan to TBC Kredit supports successful regional investment between Azerbaijan and Georgia.  TBC Kredit’s parent institution, TBC Bank Georgia, is actively involved in implementing the BSTDB SME and Trade Finance programs in Georgia.