Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and KazMicroFinance (KMF) have signed a commitment for a loan worth $5 million equivalent in local currency financing as the second tranche under the existing $10 million financing facility agreed last year.

This agreement is the continuation of the two institutes’ efforts to improve access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the regions of Kazakhstan and aimed at increasing access to credit for small entrepreneurs and farmers in remote areas of the country, EBRD said on November 18.

The new loan is being made in Kazakhstan's national currency tenge.

“The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) believes that providing opportunities to people in underdeveloped regions is a key condition for the healthy growth of any economy”, EBRD Director for Kazakhstan Janet Heckman said. “We believe non-bank institutions like KazMicroFinance, a long-standing partner of the EBRD, play a very big role in improving access to finance in rural areas”.

In his remarks, CEO of KMF Shalkar Zhussupov said at present, entrepreneurs in rural areas of Kazakhstan have poor access to funding.

“Thanks to the EBRD’s loan, we will be able to meet the expectations of our current and potential clients: expand activity in remote rural areas and provide high quality microfinance services to people involved in agricultural industry and micro-entrepreneurship. We are glad that after seven years and US$ 17 million channeled to Kazakh SMEs, the fruitful cooperation between the EBRD and KMF is continuing,” he noted.

KMF, the largest non-banking microfinance institution in Kazakhstan, has served over 120,000 clients, distributing over $140 million worth of loans throughout the country.

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.