Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government plans to allot loans worth 160 million manats ($197 million) to assist local businessmen in 2009, a considerable increase from 2008, the state body in charge of the allocations said.
Relevant proposals have been developed and are now being prepared for submission to the government for approval, said Khalig Mammadov, head of the National Fund for Support to Entrepreneurship (NFSE).
Mammadov told the press Tuesday that the disbursal of concessional loans designated for 2008 is under way, with a particular emphasis on lending aimed at boosting the country`s agriculture sector.
He emphasized that there were no problems with the repayment of the allocated loans. "Entrepreneurs repay their loans and accrued interest on time, which contributes to financing new investment projects of the Fund," Mammadov said.
In 2008, 94m manats ($116m) worth of credits were allocated for businessmen working in Azerbaijan. 74m manats of the amount will be allotted from the state budget.
The concessional loans, provided to entrepreneurs from the NFSE with 7% annual interest rate, are disbursed through 27 commercial banks, one non-bank lender and four credit unions.
Mammadov went on to say that starting next year, the NFSE will focus on financing export-oriented projects. He said the fund was looking to take domestically-produced goods to world markets under projects being submitted by local businessmen. However, economic viability of a number of these projects is under a question mark, as estimates substantiating their profitability are often inaccurate.
"Entrepreneurs give way to major shortfalls when compiling business plans. To prevent this from happening, starting next year, we intend to select the best projects being submitted to us," Mammadov added.
The NFSE was set up on a presidential decree in 1992. The fund initially operated under the Committee for Assistance to State Anti-Monopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship, but was later transferred to the Economic Development Ministry.