EBRD backs Kazakhstan's private MSMEs
By Aynur Jafarova
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to allocate a 5 year senior loan to Bank CenterCredit in the amount of 10 billion tenge ($55 million).
“The loan will be used for on-lending to eligible private micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kazakhstan,” EBRD said on November 19.
The proposed project will improve an access to long-term funding in local currency for MSMEs in the country. A special focus will be given to the distribution of funds in the regions outside Astana and Almaty, administrative and financial capitals of Kazakhstan.
Bank CenterCredit is a midsized bank with total assets of $6.4 billion and capital of $485 million as of 1 October 2014. The bank operates a well-developed network of branches and has a good capacity to serve MSMEs across the country, including in the remote regions.
Since the beginning of its operations in Kazakhstan 20 years ago, the EBRD has invested close to $6.7 billion in the country’s economy, with more than half of the projects supporting the private sector.