BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.11. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) expects that the emphasis on non-energy related sectors in Azerbaijan will continue, because the diversification challenge remains, BSTDB President Serhat Köksal said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“For our part, we would like to broaden our sectoral coverage so as to work directly with companies, in areas such as agri-business, manufacturing, and trade, rather than dealing with them indirectly through the financial sector. As our mandate states that we should focus on increased cooperation among our member states, any projects in the region that can improve cooperation with neighbors would be attractive to us,” he said.
Moreover, Köksal noted that the Bank would be very keen to increase its presence in supporting the development and delivery of key infrastructure, particularly at municipal level in cities and towns which may have been underserved relative to the capital.
He went on to add that over time, BSTDB is committed to a policy of steady, prudent, high quality growth that is broad based and extended to all its member states.
“Obviously, this very much includes Azerbaijan, in which we have been present since our Bank was created in the late 1990s. Because of the structure of the Azerbaijani economy, it has been our intention to focus primarily on non-energy related sectors of the economy, since that is where needs are greatest, and it is consistent with the objectives of the government to diversify the economy,” said Köksal.
He pointed out that over the years, the BSTDB has generally found it easier to work with Azerbaijani financial institutions, either financing them directly to assist the institution directly to grow, or to act as an intermediary with the end recipients being small and medium enterprises.
“In terms of products, we have variously participated as investor and taken a (non-controlling, non-management involvement) equity stake in an Azerbaijani bank, we have provided numerous credit lines. Furthermore, as you are aware, we were the first international financial institution to undertake a local currency loan in manat, thus helping to lead the introduction of this important product which contributes to greater confidence in the manat and the domestic financial market, and over time can help the domestic financial market grow more broadly and deeply,” the BSTDB president added.
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