BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 18. Bank Respublika OJSC has taken first place in the volume of soft loans issued to businesses in Azerbaijan from January through February 2024, the Entrepreneurship Development Fund under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan told Trend.
In the reporting period, Bank Respublika issued soft loans to entrepreneurs totaling 6.5 million manat, or $3.8 million.
The second position on the volume of business loans was taken by the International Bank of Azerbaijan (ABB) with 5.5 million manat, or $3.2 million, and the third place was taken by Rabitabank with 4.4 million manat, or $2.58 million.
Yelo Bank OJSC (4.1 million manat or $2.4 million) and Kapital Bank OJSC (700,000 manat or $411,764) were also included in the top 5 in terms of business lending.
Bank Respublika OJSC took first place on the volume of soft loans granted to businesses in Azerbaijan by the results of 2023 (40 million manat, or $23.5 million).
International Bank of Azerbaijan (ABB) took the second position on the volume of business loans with 35.9 million manat, or $21.1 million; PASHA Bank took the third place (18.3 million manat, or $10.76 million). Rabitabank (17.6 million manat, or $10.35 million) and Expressbank (13.7 million manat, or $8.06 million) were also in the top 5.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's Entrepreneurship Development Fund financed 3,276 investment projects in 2023. The Fund issued soft loans totaling 193.8 million manat ($114 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.
