The Islamic Bank for Development (IBD) has proposed to delay the development of 3-year program on cooperation with the Azerbaijani government, a government source told Trend.
A visit of the banks experts to Baku, originally scheduled for April, was delayed to an indefinite term. The development of projects to be included in the program requires two months to be coordinated with all interested ministries and administrations.
In compliance with the terms of the Islamic Bank, every year the country can benefit one privileged credit, two commercial credit and 1 or 2 grants of the bank. In this respect it is necessary to define projects coinciding these criteria. The issue of privileged financing for the country is being considered less than earlier, which is explained with the pace of economic growth in Azerbaijan.
An Azerbaijan-IBD program is considered every year, as the country is authorized to define the priorities and inject some changes to the program. At present the cooperation is carried out on the base of a program designed for 2004-2006. A program for 2006 will be considered this year and the same time the period of 2007-2009 will be covered. Meanwhile, the bank has presented to the Azerbaijani government an initial variant of the program of cooperation for 2006-2007. It includes projects in the sphere of energy, water economy and financial sectors.
Only 4 of 12 IBD-financed projected in Azerbaijan with the total cost of $150m were implemented on commercial terms with the total budget of $61m. They were directed at the implementation of projects on construction of the Alat-Gazimahommad automobile route, the Mingachevir power station, the Ujar and Khachmaz substations.
The IBDs technical assistance to Azerbaijan constitutes some $4m.