Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct. 31/ Trend D.Azizov /
German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) opened a five million euro credit line for mortgage lending for Uzbek's joint-stock commercial Ipoteka Bank, the bank's administration told Trend on Wednesday.
According to the source, the credit line has been opened as part of the current Uzbek-German intergovernmental agreement on financial cooperation and support programmes for the financial sector in Uzbekistan.
As previously reported, the agreement provides for the allocation of a credit line of 18.8 million euros provided under the guarantee of the Uzbek government for 40 years, including a 10-year grace period at an interest rate of 0.75 per cent per annum.
In accordance with the signed documents, funds are provided to selected commercial banks of the republic for 12 years, including a three-year grace period to finance and microfinance projects of small enterprises as well as for mortgage lending.
As part of the credit line opened for Ipoteka Bank, loans will be given to individuals in national currency and sums for the purchase, construction and renovation of housing in the primary and secondary markets.
A maximum loan amount allocated for 12 years at an interest rate of 19 per cent per annum and a grace period of 12 months will be 20.000 euros. The minimum size of the borrower's down payment must be at least 25 per cent of an individual's house or apartment's cost.
To date, the total amount of funds allocated by the German government since1993 through KfW for projects in the area of small and private businesses, transport infrastructure, telecommunications, food processing, agricultural machinery, social services, education and health care is more than 300 million euros.
Ipoteka Bank was established in April 2005 through the unification of Uzjilsberbank (state share housing savings banks of Uzbekistan) and Zamin mortgage bank. The main focus of this work is a long term concessional lending to individual housing construction and financing of those enterprises producing construction materials.
The bank owns 39 branches and 135 mini-banks, 485 savings banks, 147 exchange points, which enable it to serve about 70.000 businesses and more than 600.000 individuals. Correspondent relations have been established with banks of the U.S., Germany, Russia and the Netherlands.
At the end of 2011, the bank's assets calculated by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) increased by 43.1 per cent, up to 1.504 trillion sums. The loan portfolio grew by 63.4 per cent up to 907.808 billion sums, whilst the equity increased by 26, 9 per cent, up to 137.66 billion sums.
The official exchange rate on 31 October is 1956.21 sum / $1 and 2548.21 sum / 1 euro
