YEREVAN, May 2. / ARKA /. The Armenian government has approved today a proposal to sign an agreement with the French government for the opening the office of the French Investment and Promotion Company for Economic Cooperation (Proparco).
Acting finance minister Vache Gabrielyan said the main purpose of Proparco is to promote the private sector in developing countries through provision of specific financial instruments in the form of loans, equity and guarantees.
Earlier Proparco and the Armenian Ameriabank signed a $15 million loan agreement for the financing of Armenian small and medium-sized agricultural and processing enterprises.
According to Armenia’s National Statistical Service, France topped the list of countries in terms of total foreign investment in the real sector of Armenia’s economy in 2012, which totaled $230.4 million, an increase of 2.3 times compared to 2011. Moreover, they all were direct investments.
Armenian-French trade in 2012 decreased by 21.8% from 2011 to $72 million. Armenian exports to France shrank by 53.8 percent to $4.4 million.
Created in 1977, Proparco is a Development Financial Institution partly held by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and private shareholders from the North and South. Proparco’s mission is to be a catalyst for private investment in developing countries which targets growth and sustainable development.
Proparco finances operations which are economically viable, socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and financially profitable. Proparco has a wide range of financial instruments to meet the specific needs of private investors in developing countries (loans, equity, guarantees and financial engineering). For the 2011 fiscal year, the total amount of commitments (deals signed) for Proparco either through loans, equity and other securities reached €865m. With a portfolio worth 2.6 bn € at 31 December 2011 – up 24% on 2010 – Proparco has demonstrated its ability to scale up its activity within a difficult market environment and now has over 300 clients in 60 countries. -0-
