Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr U. Ismayilova / The International Fund for Agricultural Development completed its first project; Agricultural Development of Mountainous and High Mountainous Regions, the Director of the program Vugar Mehdiyev said at a workshop dedicated to the completion of the first project on 27 November.
According to Mehdiyev, a credit agreement to finance the project was signed with IFAD on 27 November 2000. The total budget of the project which is expected to cover seven years makes up $10mln including $9.3mln allocated by IFAD and the remaining part by the Government and village communities.
Since 30 August 2004, micro financing has been also implemented within the framework of the project. The total amount of credit resources of the project comprise $2.65mln, with $1.5mln intended for micro crediting.
AZN 250,000 of the credit portfolio was distributed by an agent bank - Turanbank. During implementation of the project, the bank allocated a total of AZN 445,290 for implementation of 62 projects. Most of the projects (42) were in the field of cattle breeding, 15 - gardening, 2 - trade, 2 - beekeeping, and 1 - production.
Turanbank received funds from IFAD under the interest rate corresponding with the rate of the National Bank of Azerbaijan (in 2005 it was 7%). Turanbank issued loans with interest rates varying between 16% and 21% depending on the kind of activities and the volume of the loan.
Loans for agrarian products were issued at 16%, production of agrarian products and purchase of technology - 18%, trade in agrarian products - 21%. Long-term (4-5 years) and large loans were considered individually at an interest rate of 16%.
The areas where the project was implemented are Lerik, Gadabay, Shahbuz, Gabala, Guba, Ismayilli, and Dashkasan regions.
"IFAD developed the second program on Agricultural Development of Mountainous and High Mountainous Regions and submitted it to the Government for approval," Mehdiyev said.