BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) took first place in Azerbaijan in terms of the volume of preferential loans issued to businesses in January 2024, the Entrepreneurship Development Fund under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan told Trend.
This bank issued preferential loans to entrepreneurs totaling 4.8 million manat ($2.8 million) during the reporting month.
The second and third positions in terms of business lending volume were shared by Bank Respublika and Rabitabank OJSCs with the volume of preferential loans amounting to 2.2 million manat ($1.29 million) each.
The top five in terms of business lending also included Yelo Bank OJSC (one million manat or $590 million) and Kapital Bank OJSC (400,000 manat or $235,290).
To note, Bank Respublika OJSC took first place in the volume of soft loans with 40 million manat ($23.5 million) issued to businesses in Azerbaijan in 2023.
The second position was taken by the IBA with 35.9 million manat ($21 million), and the third place - by PASHA Bank (18.3 million manat or $10.7 million).
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's Entrepreneurship Development Fund financed 3,276 investment projects in 2023. The Fund issued soft loans totaling 193.8 million manat ($113.8 million).
According to the fund, 46.4 percent of the issued loans were directed to the production of agricultural products, 43 percent to the production and processing of industrial products, 5.5 percent to the service sector, and 4.5 percent to tourism development projects. Local regions of the country accounted for 72 percent of soft loans, and Baku city and Absheron Economic Region accounted for 28 percent.
