The Azerbaijani government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will continue discussions on the project on financing Agriculture and micro-financing, a government source told Trend. A mission of the bank headed by Noy Sickachian, the Director for finance and trade department, concluded last week the talks on revision of the project.
Clarity in respect to exclusion from the project of a component of institutional development of commercial banks in the regions, which implies use of the part of credit for expanding branching out, was to come by the end of the mission. However, not all ministries stated their official standpoint in this respect. Particularly, the Ministry for Economic Development continues insisting on presence of the component in the project, while it is still to submit its official position. Anyhow, the final resolution is to be taken by the head of state.
The ADB agrees upon expanding the credit component at the expense of the cancellation of this component, as well as cut in expenses for consultants. Besides, intensified cut in the number of components is certain to reduce the expenses for a project management team, including expenses.
The ADB loan will increased from the earlier amount of $25m and $100m. The first installment will comprise $25m, while in case of successful of placement in 2-3 years the bank will approve the rest funds through the second and third installments.