Finance

Finance

BSTDB to increase financing of operations in state sector

20 June 2013 14:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-Economics. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) intends to increase the financing of operations in state sector of member-countries, said the BSTDB President Andrey Kondakov.

According to him, for the present, the 85% of operations in state sector belongs to private sector: “We can be active in state sector and think to increase the activity in this sector to 25% from 15%”.

Speaking about Bank’s activity in Azerbaijan, Kondakov noted that BSTDB is interested in financing of alternative energy projects: “At the same time, we’ll extend our activity in energy, transport, production, agrarian and etc. spheres”.

Kondakov also said that BSTDB and Azerbaijan have signed agreements on 10 projects in amount of €70 mln during past 2 years, while it is considered €90 mln-agreements on 8 projects in 2011-2014: “This indicates that the plan will be overfulfilled. In general, Azerbaijan is among the 5 countries borrowing more loan from BSTDB”.

He also mentioned that BSTDB will hold the 15^th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Baku on June 23, 2013. The Board will evaluate the Bank’s operational activities and approve the financial statements for 2012. During 2012, portfolio growth reached above 9% and the Bank posted net profit for the eighth consecutive year.

On the occasion of the Annual Meeting, and in close cooperation with the Azerbaijani Government, Azpromo and regional business associations, the Bank organizes a Business Forum on June 21, 2013. The Forum includes a strategic policy discussion on economic diversification, where Azerbaijani policy makers will introduce the Government’s approach to economic diversification, to be followed by a panel discussion among leading development financial institutions aimed at elaborating policy recommendations based on international experience. Business development sessions will form the second part of the Forum, where business leaders from the Black Sea Region and beyond will discuss business, trade and investment opportunities in Azerbaijan and in the region.

Note that the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is SDR 3 billion (appx. EUR 3.5 billion). BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A3” by Moody’s.