Azerbaijan, Baku, April 30 /Trend, I.Khalilova/
Azerbaijan DemirBank resumes with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) the program on co-financing small and medium enterprises, said Chairman of DemirBank's Board Roman Amirjanov.
"In order to reduce interest rates on loans we intend to refinance old loans, said Amirjanov. This will significantly reduce lending rates by at least 20 percent."
He said that initially within the program the EBRD allocated DemirBank $7 million, but now the restrictions to attract credit resources have been lifted.
Borrowing from the EBRD now makes up 75 percent of DemirBank's capital, i.e. about $30 million.
"EBRD takes at least 20 percent of the total borrowings of our bank [120 million manat], said Amirdjanov. At present, in cooperation with the EBRD, we turn to a qualitatively new level due to the expansion of access to foreign borrowing."
DemirBank has been cooperating with the EBRD since 1998 and is one of the first banks in Azerbaijan, attracting financial resources of this international institution.
DemirBank (formerly named as Azerdemiryolbank) was founded in 1989 by the Azerbaijan State Railways. Since 1995, the main shareholder of the bank has been the Hajiyevs family (currently owns approximately 46 percent of shares). EBRD and the Netherlands Development Finance Company in the aggregate capital owned 35 percent shares of the bank. Since December 2005, EBRD has acquired 25 percent plus one share of the bank.
Official rate on April 30 is 0.8033 AZN/USD.