Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr I. Khalilova / The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) agreed to finance the activity of German Savings Bank Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC) as the manager of German-Azerbaijan Fund (GAF) earlier financed by the German Development Bank KfW. The GAF Technical Manager, Andreas Frank, said that the EBRD and SBFIC signed one year technical assistance agreement. However, Frank does not exclude the probability that the period of the agreement will be extended in the next two or three years.
"The technical accompaniment of the GAF partner banks will also continue in line with the EBRD," the Manager said.
The EBRD joined the financing of banks via GAF within the mechanism of public finance services for Finance-Facility Micro and Small Loan Component (AMBF-MSE) last year. However, it provided more credits that the fund at the expense of KfW credits.
Frank said that in addition to the number of the credits granted within a month, the number of GAF partner-banks also increased.
GAF's portfolio makes up nearly $33mln, with $15mln from KfW credits and $18mln - EBRD. Generally 7500 credits have been provided, with 5000 in line with EBRD.
An agreement on the establishment of GAF was signed in 1999, whereas issue of credits was set up in March 2001. KfW allocated two credits for GAF totaling €8.7mln at an annual rate of 0.75% with a 35-year term including a 10-year grace period. Since March 2001, the partners of GAF have been Bank of Baku and UniBank, since January 2003 - Parabank and Bank Respublika, since September 2004 - Azerdemiryolbank and Azerigazbank, since December 2006 - Rabitabank and Muganbank.