BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 4
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
The volume of the loan portfolio of Azerbaijan’s AzMikroInvest non-bank credit organization (NBCO) in the field of agricultural lending has exceeded 102,000 manat ($60,000), but the organization plans to increase the volume of the loan portfolio this year, a source in AzMikroInvest told Trend.
“The demand for loans in the first quarter of 2020 decreased compared to the same period of last year,” the source added.
"The coronavirus pandemic affected the quality of the NBCO’s assets as the current situation weakened the solvency of borrowers and led to a great uncertainty for future periods,” the source said.
“However, during the quarantine regime in the country, AzMikroInvest was able to pass to an online mode of operations,” the source said. “For this purpose, the employees had remote access to the database via the internet while customers were informed about the services of e-payment systems, internet banking and other services.”
AzMikroInvest NBCO was established in April 2014. Having received a limited banking license from the Central Bank in June 2014, it launched microfinance activity.
Its main goal is to render financial support for the development of micro-business in Azerbaijan, working as a sustainable microfinance organization to improve the social welfare of low-income families.
The financial base was formed through capital investments, cash and interest income of local financial institutions.
AzMikroInvest's future plans include not only expansion of microcredit activity, but also creation of new loan products, as well as microfinancing in support of the development of business of low-income people in densely populated cities and villages.
For this purpose, the organization has worked much to expand the microfinance services and attract additional funds from local and international financial institutions.
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