Baku, Azerbaijan, July 31
By Matanat Nasibova, Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support, operating under the Ministry of Economy, has so far issued preferential loans worth 2.3 billion manats, Trend reports from a meeting on the development of innovative entrepreneurship.
At the meeting, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Economy Sahib Mammadov said that over 36,000 entrepreneurs received funding as part of projects worth a total of 5.2 billion manats.
“At the expense of these loans, opportunities were created to open 166,000 new jobs,” Mammadov said. “At the same time, loans worth 1 billion manats were issued at the expense of the state budget, and loans worth 1.3 billion manats were issued at the expense of returned loans. Of this amount, 74 percent of loans were issued to businessmen of the regions, 26 percent to businessmen operating in the districts of Baku.”
Mammadov noted that about 68 percent of loans were directed to the agricultural sector and 32 percent to various industries.
“The National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support held 396 business forums with the participation of more than 52,000 entrepreneurs,” the deputy minister said.
He noted that the development of entrepreneurship remains one of the important tasks of state policy, and active work will be continued in this direction aimed at building a strong innovation model of the economy.