BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 15. Azerbaijan's Business Development Fund financed 5,722 projects with a total value of 248 million manat ($145.6 million), Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of the Business Development Fund Namiq Zeynalov said, Trend reports.
Zeynalov made the remark at the 2nd International Agricultural Innovation Forum, held on the third day of the 18th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition (Caspian Agro) and the 30th anniversary Azerbaijan International Food Industry Exhibition (InterFood Azerbaijan) in Baku.
He noted that over 200 projects across various regions were financed by the fund last year.
"In monetary terms, we allocated 1.5 million manat ($880,000) to these projects. In 2024, as the Business Development Fund, we financed a total of 5,722 projects worth 248 million manat ($145.6 million). Of these, 5,400 were specifically agricultural projects, to which we allocated 132 million manat ($77.5 million). This shows the fund's strong focus on agriculture.
However, we are also interested in other areas. We would like to see growing demand for the fund’s resources in the next phase—particularly in processing and production. The reality is that today, funding from commercial banks to the production sector is often not very successful, and the repayment of such loans can be challenging for entrepreneurs.
As the Business Development Fund, we are also keen to give special attention to the processing sector," Zeynalov added.
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