Details added (first version posted on 16:06)
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Eurasian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may issue bonds in manats before late 2015, EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said May 8 at a press conference in Baku.
He went on to add that if it happens, EBRD will become the first international organization to issue bonds in manats.
He said that a meeting with the leadership of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) took place with this purpose, during which the parties also discussed issues of financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, allocation of syndicated loans, project financing to reduce energy consumption, the assistance EBRD may provide in case of consolidation of the country's banks.
The EBRD head said that after the devaluation of the Azerbaijani manat on February 21, opportunities for local companies to obtain loans in manats should be expanded.
In turn, the head of the EBRD Baku office Neil McCain said that the sale of bonds will be carried out within the country, and after that their entering foreign markets may be considered.
He also said that the bank issued similar bonds in the Georgian lari in 2015.
On February 21, Central Bank has established rate of the manat to the US dollar at 1.05 manats per dollar (compared to 0.7844 manats earlier), which corresponds to the cheapening of rate by 33.9 percent. In this case, the official rate of the euro to the manat consolidated by 33.8 percent - up to 1,195 manats.
The EBRD has allocated $ 2.5 billion to finance 146 projects in various sectors of the economy since the beginning of cooperation with Azerbaijan. One of the EBRD's main tasks is to ensure the stable development of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector by investing in small and medium private enterprises.
Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of the EBRD funds in the Caucasus, as well as one of the largest - in the CIS and Eastern Europe.
The EBRD invested 238 million euros in the implementation of 21 projects in Azerbaijan in 2014.
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