OREANDA-NEWS. In a move designed to boost lending to the small business sector in Belarus, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) today extended a USD 30 million loan to OAO Bank BelVEB, which, with 23 branches, has a wide footprint across the country.

The five-year loan will allow Bank BelVEB to lengthen debt maturities when it on-lends to its private clients in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) - a sector with huge potential but which is currently under-served sector.

An agreement to this effect was signed by Bank BelVEB CEO Pavel Kallaur and Francis Delaey, the EBRD's Head of Office in Belarus.

“The EBRD's loan will allow us to strengthen support to MSMEs and thereby contribute to the development of this sector which is expected to contribute at least 30% to the country's GDP in 2015. Participating in such programmes and providing funding for business under simplified rules, BelVEB contributes to the creation of the necessary conditions for private initiative and for robust small business development in the country,” Kallaur said as quoted by the BelVEB press-service.

As of January 1, 2014 the share of loans to MSMEs in the corporate loan portfolio of Bank BelVEB amounted to 32.8%. The bank hopes to see the figure grow to 40% by early 2016.

A similar agreement between Bank BelVEB and the EBRD was signed in December 2010. The three-year partnership programme with the EBRD yielded an increase in credit support for SMEs and a rise in the customer base.

In the framework of this programme Bank BelVEB offers several credit products with a maximum credit amount of USD 1million. SME credits are available in Belarusian rubles, US dollars, euros and Russian rubles.

Bank BelVEB was registered on December 12, 1991. Russian Vnesheconombank controls 97.49% in the Belarus-based bank. The bank's shareholders are around430 entities and over 43,000 individuals.

The bank's statutory capital stood at Br1.174 trillion (USD 123.1 million) as of December 1, 2013. At present, Bank BelVEB has 13 micro-crediting points of service under the EBRD programme. BelVEB, which ranks among Belarus's top six banks as measured by assets, has been an EBRD partner in Belarus since 2010.