Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 10 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The non-bank credit organization "Executive Credit Agency" (EKA) under the Azerbaijani Credit Unions Association (AKIA) issued loans worth over 95 million manat as of Oct. 1, 2011, EKA Director General Arif Aliyev said in an interview on Thursday.
"Our portfolio is ensured only by lending in rural areas," he said. "Despite the fact that our current portfolio is small today and hits about 16 million manat, we work directly with Azerbaijani farmers."
He said that at present, the organization has more than 10,500 borrowers. They are members of credit unions, which work closely with the EKA. Moreover, EKA distributes loans directly to farmers through the groups of borrowers. Their number hits 3,500 people.
"We give these resources to credit unions and groups of borrowers for a period of one year," he said. "We once again send the recovered funds for lending."
He said that about 70,000-80,000 people benefit from the agency's activity.
"Credit unions are legal entities, including 100-200 or more members," he said. "However, there is a group of small entrepreneurs, to whom we directly give out loans. About 14,000 people benefited from EKA's opportunities."
EKA was purchased by the Azerbaijani Credit Unions Association in 2005.
The official exchange rate is 0.7866 AZN/USD.