Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 2
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is ready to provide consulting services to microfinance institutions of Azerbaijan, a source on the country’s financial market told Trend.
“It’s early to talk about lending to microfinance institutions at this stage, but ICD has a number of consulting services they can use,” the source said. “Such services include developing new products in accordance with the Sharia [Islamic law] and rendering assistance in creation of new companies on Islamic microfinance.”
Azerbaijan, along with Kazakhstan, was chosen as one of the pilot countries where ICD plans to work with microfinance institutions. Earlier, the Islamic corporation worked only with the banking sector.
“In early October, ICD already held talks with some leading microfinance organizations of Azerbaijan,” the source noted. “They showed great interest in services of the Islamic corporation, but it is too early to speak about concrete projects.”
The ICD has been operating in Azerbaijan since 2003. ICD finances mainly small and medium enterprises in the country. The corporation is the founder of Ansar Leasing and a co-founder of the Caspian International Investment Company in Azerbaijan.
The ICD is a multilateral development financial institution and is a part of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group.