Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Gradual revival of micro-entrepreneurship is being observed in Azerbaijan, Faig Huseynov, chairman of Management Board of Unibank OJSC, said in an interview with Trend.
He noted that one of the main reasons for this may be the development of tourism in Azerbaijan.
“I speak about not only hotels that buy different products from small and family businesses and activate the services sphere. Of course, against the background of the increasing tourist inflow, this also has a positive impact on the development of micro-business,” said Huseynov. “During the last nine months of 2017, more than two million tourists visited our country [an annual growth of 20.9 percent according to the Tourism Board].”
He added that the micro-business in Azerbaijan is developing not only in Baku, but also in the regions of the country. Huseynov noted that in general, Azerbaijan has great potential for further development of this field.
For Unibank, which was established in 2002, micro-business is one of the three main areas of crediting. In 2016, micro-loans accounted for 13 percent (45.7 million manats) of the total volume of loans. The volume of micro-credit carried out by the bank has risen by 6.3 times since 2010.