BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 9. Azerbaijan's Bank Respublika OJSC took first place among the local banks in terms of the volume of preferential loans issued to businesses from January through March 2024, a source in the Entrepreneurship Development Fund under the Ministry of Economy told Trend.
Bank Respublika issued preferential loans totaling 14.6 million manat ($8.59 million) to entrepreneurs for 431 projects in the reporting period.
The second and third positions in terms of business lending were taken by International Bank of Azerbaijan and Yelo Bank with 5.7 million manat ($3.35 million) each.
Rabitabank (5.6 million manat, or $3.29 million) and PASHA Bank (4.6 million manat, or $2.7 million) were also in the top 5 in terms of lending volume.
To note, Bank Respublika OJSC took first place on the volume of preferential loans granted to businesses in Azerbaijan by the results of 2023 (40 million manat, or $23.5 million).
International Bank of Azerbaijan 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.
