TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, March 4. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a $10 million loan for women entrepreneurs to Ipoteka Bank, Uzbekistan's leading private lender, controlled by the OTP Group of Hungary, Trend reports.
The loan is for women entrepreneurs under the EBRD’s Central Asian Women in Business (WiB) program.
Moreover, the loan is supported by grant financing from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) organization and is designed to promote women's entrepreneurship and business development by helping them access finance, technology, and technical advice.
Meanwhile, EBRD is providing a $10 million loan to Ipoteka Bank to improve access to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies for small businesses and private entrepreneurs.
In total, EBRD is promoting green and inclusive lending in Uzbekistan by offering a financing package of up to $20 million to Ipoteka Bank.
Uzbekistan is the leading recipient of EBRD funding in Central Asia for the fourth year running. To date, the Bank has invested around 4.28 billion euros in 147 projects across the country, with most of those funds supporting private entrepreneurship.
