US Int'l Development Finance Corporation invested in 24 business projects in Azerbaijan
By Trend
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has invested around $230 million in Azerbaijan across 24 business projects over the past two decades, Trend reports with reference to the US Department of State.
“While Azerbaijan’s financial services sector has been a major area for investments, legacy OPIC-funded projects have included investments in the energy (such as the BTC oil pipeline completed in 2006), franchising, banking, microfinance, and hotel and hospitality sectors of Azerbaijan. The DFC has repeatedly provided funds for numerous banks operating in Azerbaijan to expand their SME lending portfolios, including $4.8 million to Rabita Bank in 2008 and $7.3 million to Turan Bank in 2009. In 2011, DFC predecessor OPIC provided MuganBank a loan guarantee for $10 million to expand its operations, targeting SME borrowers,” the report said.
OPIC also provided $1 million and $3 million to FinDev and CredAgro for microfinance lending, respectively. In 2012, OPIC provided loan insurance to Viator Microcredit Azerbaijan LLC ($500,000), NBCO Vision Fund Azercredit LLC ($2 million), and FinDev again ($1 million).
In 2013, OPIC signed a memorandum with Turan Bank for a loan in the amount of $7 million with a term of seven years for SME financing. As of 2015, the DFC has active loan projects with two non-banking credit organizations, KredAgro and TBC Kredit.
“In its 2014 annual report, EXIM Bank reported outstanding insurance and loan guarantees for Azerbaijan in the amount of $211.9 million, primarily in support of aviation sales. In 2011, EXIM Bank closed a $116.6 million loan with a ten-year repayment period to finance the Azerbaijan space agency’s purchase of the AzerSat-1 satellite from Orbital Sciences. In June 2015, EXIM Bank finalized a $211.9 million loan to finance Azerbaijan Airline’s purchase of Boeing commercial aircraft,” the report said.
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