DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, March 28. A senior loan of up to $5 million for Tajikistan’s Arvand Bank was approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) under the FIF Youth in Business Programme for Central Asia (YiB CA), Trend reports.
As per the EBRD, the project seeks to support local currency financing for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) owned or led by youth in Tajikistan. This initiative aims to boost lending to youth-led MSMEs, enhance Arvand's capacity, and foster the transfer of skills to young business owners and managers in the country.
A seven-year Youth in Business Programme for Central Asia seeks to improve access to finance and provide relevant training to young entrepreneurs in the region, where up to one-third of the population is between the ages of 18 and 34. The program provides up to 200 million euros in lending to up to 20 partner financial institutions in Central Asia and Mongolia.
The current loan portfolio of the EBRD in Tajikistan amounted to 482 million euros for 69 active projects as of January 31, 2024.
As of the reporting date, the EBRD's cumulative investments in Tajikistan totaled 919 million euros, spread across 165 projects, with the private sector's share in the portfolio amounting to 13 percent.
Arvand Bank provides a comprehensive suite of banking services, focusing mainly on the retail and MSME sectors in Tajikistan. As of the end of 2023, Arvand ranks as the ninth-largest bank by assets and the fourth-largest by loan book among banks in Tajikistan.
