BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.12
By Natavan Rzayeva - Trend:
The Netherlands' Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) is steering its investments towards areas that have the largest development finance impact on Uzbekistan's economy, Monica Beek, the spokesperson for the bank, told Trend.
According to Beek, for FMO these areas includes micro, small and medium enterprises, as it sees MSMEs as the backbone of any country in terms of “engine for economic growth” and “creator of jobs”.
FMO contributes to development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Uzbekistan through the partnership with local financial institutions.
"Within FMO’s mandate we can work with privately owned entities," Beek said.
She reminded that in Uzbekistan FMO started to cooperate with 2 private banks since 2012 – 2013. These banks are Ipak Yuli Bank and Hamkorbank.
Recently, the Dutch bank signed a $50 million loan facility agreement with Ipak Yuli Bank. The proceeds of the loan are used by Ipak Yuli Bank to finance eligible projects supporting micro customers and women, youth, agricultural SMEs and eligible green projects.
“This is an example of how FMO tries to combine the business needs of our clients with the impact goals we have set as development bank. In addition, we can also support our customers with targeted technical assistance in areas, such as – for example – environmental & social risk management and corporate governance through in-house and external support,” said Beek.
She said the package of financial and non-financial products that FMO offers, aims to contribute to stronger and more resilient Uzbek banks who use its products to support their customers operating in the real economy of Uzbekistan and in areas where impact is high, such as greening the economy and reducing inequalities by means of offering access to finance to those who need it the most.
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