Azernews.Az

By Trend

The program to strengthen Azerbaijani financial institutions, funded by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union and Türkiye, has been successfully completed, Trend reports via the EBRD.

This program aimed at strengthening the resilience of the local financial system and fostering lending to local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) involving such Azerbaijani banks as Bank Respublika, Unibank, TuranBank and MuganBank.

The first key pillar of the program focused on strengthening the strategy and business planning, risk management, IT, compliance, and non-performing loan resolution. There have been identified development needs and action plans were developed in close consultation with each of the banks.

The second pillar aimed at expanding access to finance MSMEs by developing lending operations for individual banks, marketing strategies, training staff, and setting up monitoring and recovery units.

Speaking at the event on the project’s completion, the Head of EBRD in Azerbaijan Kamola Makhmudova noted the successful completion of the program to support the capacity building of Azerbaijan’s financial institutions.

“A resilient financial system has the flexibility to respond most efficiently to different crises and support stronger growth of the economy, including boosting access to finance for small companies. Today we witness tangible results of our intervention,” Makhmudova said.

Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Azerbaijan Peter Michalko pointed out that the EU supports investment in Azerbaijan in the context of the Eastern Partnership Economic and Investment Plan.

“Earlier this year, Commissioner Varhelyi announced the investment target of two billion euros for Azerbaijan and we are working closely with international financial institutions and EU Member States to make this a reality. EU4Business is a key initiative in this regard and I am happy that our cooperation with Azerbaijan is bearing fruit,” Michalko said.

“The successful completion of this joint technical cooperation program is a witness to our strong partnership, with the government of Azerbaijan, with the business in the country and with our implementing partners,” he noted.

The EBRD is an important institutional investor in Azerbaijan. To date, the bank has invested more than 3.6 billion euros in 181 projects there. The bank’s strategy in the country focuses on helping Azerbaijan to diversify its economy and develop the private sector in non-oil sectors.

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