Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / The National Bank of Azerbaijan plans to provide full banking license to the non-bank credit organization of 'Agrarian-credit' to transform it into a bank after the decision of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to acquire participation share in the organization, a source at 'Agrarian-credit' stated on 24 December.
The EBRD intends to acquire 25% shares at 'Agrarian-credit'.
The The EBRD has collected necessary information on the current situation and future activities of 'Agrarian-credit'. The EBRD already provided initial consent, but the official decision may be made next year. Due to it, 'Agrarian-credit' also may transform into bank in 2008.
Currently 'Agrarian-credit' is functioning on the base of limited license. The 2008 Public budget of Azerbaijan allocated AZN 1mln to increase the capital of the organization. 'Agrarian-credit' will transfer the funds to the treasury.
Currently the capital of Agrarian-credit' is AZN 18mln.
Earlier the Head of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, Elman Rustamov, said that the agrarian bank should not be owned by State, but the State should participate in it. Due to it, the NBA such models in other countries. The Government is interested in developing agrarian sector in the Country, of which demand for financial resources totals $1.2-$1.3bln. Therefore, it needs to establish an agricultural bank.
The Azerbaijani Finance Ministry is the main shareholder of the Agrarian-credit, which has 99.9% credits of the credit organization. The rest of the shares of the organization are equally divided among the state insurance organization of Azersigorta and Land-reclamation and water agriculture company.