Financing in the field of urban development and urban infrastructure in Azerbaijan is mainly carried out in a centralized manner, Lin O’Grady, Head of the EBRD Green Cities Programme and Deputy Director of the EBRD Sustainable Infrastructure Group, said during a discussion on urban development and climate finance held as part of Baku Climate Action Week, APA reports.
The EBRD official emphasized the importance of closer coordination between project preparation and financing:
“Since cities differ in size, creditworthiness and the level of fiscal decentralization, it is not possible to use a single financing model for all cities. In Azerbaijan, overall, the system is fairly centralized. Therefore, in the field of urban development and urban infrastructure, we currently lend to the state, and the state then passes those funds on to the city.”
The EBRD official said the situation is different in Türkiye. According to her, since fiscal decentralization has been implemented, the EBRD is able to lend directly to cities.
“The key issue is to determine which financing instruments are suitable for a particular city. Naturally, opportunities to involve the private sector in the process should always be explored as well.”
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