Azerbaijan, Baku, May 11 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
The Azerbaijani DemirBank plans an increase in its leasing portfolio by 1.5 times before the end of 2011, DemirBank Chairman of the Board Roman Amirjanov said.
"Today, the leasing portfolio has reached about 5 million manat," he said, "and plans to reach 7.5 million."
He said that Azerbaijan renders leasing services mainly in residential construction.
"We expect the leasing market to be more active in the country in connection with the intensification of construction and implementation of infrastructure projects," he said.
According to him, the bank does not plan to raise interest rates on leasing transactions. Rather it approached the issue of determining interest rates with reservations. At present, the rate ranges from 20 to 24 percent per annum.
DemirBank offers leasing services to buy property and equipment in the following sectors: transportation - cars, passenger, freight cars, manufacturing-machinery, food-processing equipment, woodworking, furniture production, light industry, metallurgy and building materials; services - machinery, medical apparatus, financial, transport, IT, advertising, printing services, sports, recreation complexes, mail, telecommunication, construction, equipment repair, agriculture, manufacturing and processing.
One of the first national banks, DemirBank (former Azerdemiryolbank) began operating in 1989. Large international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) are the bank's shareholders.