BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 17
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Uzpromstroybank JSCB held a ceremony of signing an agreement on attracting a synthetic credit line in the amount of $25 million, Trend reports with reference to the EBRD.
According to the information, the EBRD is responding to ongoing challenges for Uzbekistan’s real economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing financing to local small and medium-sized enterprises through local banks.
Thus, a loan of up to $25 million under the Bank’s Resilience Framework, designed to tackle the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, will be provided to Uzpromstroybank JSCB.
“It will stimulate lending to SMEs in the country. The funds will be disbursed in Uzbek soum to protect local businesses from foreign currency exchange-related risks,” EBRD reports.
In addition, the loan will support the funding base of the country’s leading financial institution, which is serving more than one million clients and has a network of 45 branches and 170 outlets across Uzbekistan.
It is also noted that in 2020 the EBRD responded to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic in Uzbekistan by committing $521 million through 18 projects in various sectors of the national economy.
“Projects include support for the country’s banking sector and SMEs access to finance, upgrade of key infrastructure and promotion of the development of renewable energy,” EBRD noted.
To date, the EBRD has invested over €2 billion ($2.38 billion) through 92 projects in the economy of Uzbekistan.
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