Wed, 6 August
32.1 C
Yerevan
USD: 384.03 RUB: 4.80 EUR: 443.29 GEL: 142.29 GBP: 510.11

Araratbank and EDB sign $4 million loan agreement to finance micro and small businesses in Armenia

YEREVAN, January 20. /ARKA/. Armenian Araratbank and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed on Friday a $4 million loan agreement to finance micro and small businesses in Armenia.

“This is a new opportunity and a new way of cooperation with the Eurasian Development Bank,” Araratbank CEO, Ashot Osipyan, said after the signing ceremony.

Osipyan said it is the first such agreement with Eurasian Development Bank and added that loans will be provided at an average interest rate of 12-14% with a maturity of 3-5 years.

“We are actively cooperating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, German bank KfW to boost lending to small and micro businesses in Armenia. The agreement with Eurasian Development Bank increases our opportunities,” he said.

Osipyan said that loan will be provided in U.S. dollars, and the lending to small and micro business will be also in hard currency.

The deputy chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank, Dmitry Zhurba, said it took a lot of time to prepare the deal. He said the Eurasian Development bank will increase its presence in Armenia.

“Araratbank has been working with other international financial institutions for a long time and I hope that our cooperation will develop and deepen,’ he said.

Araratbank, previously called Haykap Bank, was founded in 1991 and provides a full range of banking services to corporate, MSME and retail customers. The bank has established a reputation as a small but reliable and dynamically growing financial institution. EBRD holds 25% in Araratbank. The rest is held by Barsegh Beglarian, head of the biggest petrol importing company Flash.

EDB was founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 in order to facilitate the development of market economies of member countries. Its authorized capital exceeds $1.5 billion. Member states are Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Tajikistan. The bank has already provided Armenia with over $20 million loans. -0-

spot_img

POPULAR

Armenia’s state budget had a deficit of 39.2 billion drams in the first half of the year, according to the Finance Ministry.

The Armenian government’s budget for the first half of the year was executed with a deficit of 39.2 billion drams, which is significantly lower than the projected deficit of 325.3 billion drams, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance today.

Ranking of most profitable banks in Armenia based on results of first quarter of 2025

ARKA news agency publishes the ranking of the most profitable commercial banks in Armenia based on the results of the first quarter of 2025.

Insurance market of Armenia is in embryonic state

Insurance market of Armenia is in embryonic state

Top 10 banks of Armenia by loan portfolio for 1st H 2020

ARKA News Agency has singled out ten banks for their big loan portfolios as of June 30, 2020

Moody’s upgrades Converse Bank’s ratings

Moody's Ratings has upgraded Converse Bank CJSC's long-term local and foreign currency bank deposit ratings to Ba3 from B1, aligning the Bank’s rating with Armenia’s sovereign rating.

LATEST NEWS

spot_imgspot_imgspot_img