YEREVAN, April 2. /ARKA/. The German-Armenian Fund (GAF) has provided AMD 980 billion in loans since the launch of its operation in Armenia, Chairman of the Central Bank Martin Galstyan said at the conference “Opportunities and Prospects of SME Financing”.
He recalled that GAF was established by the Central Bank of Armenia in 2001 after the governments of the two countries reached an agreement on the financing in 1998.
Galstyan said that GAF also provides credit products that are available to micro-enterprises, including green finance and energy saving.
The head of the Central Bank added that the idea of amending GAF’s approach with a focus on increasing productivity is being worked out, i.e. new agreements to be concluded will have to include this component as well.
In his turn, GAF representative Arsen Yeghikyan noted that GAF’s program portfolio at the end of last year amounted to 258.2 billion drams, and SME loan portfolio to 173.9 billion drams. The program portfolio by sector is distributed as follows: 40% – trade, 16% – services, 13% each – agriculture and manufacturing, 8% – construction, 10% – other spheres.
GAF donor organizations are KfW Bank, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank. Loan programs are implemented in such areas as SME promotion, renewable energy stimulation, support of the agro-sector, energy efficiency of SMEs, housing finance.-0-
