Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is ready to allocate funds for the development of Azerbaijan's agricultural sector, head of EBRD's Baku office Neal McCain told Trend March 1.
"Currently, we are holding trainings for bankers [in agricultural lending]," he said. "But this year, we have not financed agriculture [within the framework of the Azeri Agricultural Finance Facility - AzAFF] due to the situation in the banking sector."
Our partners are waiting for the situation in the sector to stabilize, he added.
McCain noted that most likely less than $50 million will be allocated to Azerbaijan's agricultural sector in 2016.
Nevertheless, he considers that the improvement of the situation has to be expected for the second half of 2016.
"Currently, we are also discussing financing of projects in other spheres in Azerbaijan," said McCain adding that "of course, this year the volume of financing will be less than the year before last, but we are waiting for good progress due to the large infrastructure and gas projects."
Azerbaijan is the EBRD member since 1992.
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