TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, October 14. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is exploring the possibility of providing a three-year senior unsecured loan of up to $5 million to Joint Stock Commercial Bank with Foreign Capital Hamkorbank under the Women in Business Programme for Central Asia (CA WiB), Trend reports.
The approval date is scheduled for October 27, 2023.
As per data by EBRD, the CA WiB Loan I will enable Hamkorbank to maintain diversification of its funding base and to scale up financing of women-led MSMEs in Uzbekistan. Hamkorbank will benefit from a comprehensive technical assistance (TC) to strengthen the internal capacity for financing women-led businesses and to contribute to the elimination of gender gaps in the access to finance.
The CA WiB Loan I to Hamkorbank is aimed to support Inclusive (primary) and Competitive (secondary) transition qualities through promotion of female entrepreneurship and, more broadly, women's active participation in business activities, thus alleviating gender inclusion gaps in terms of access to finance and employment.
“Taken together, these targets will contribute to improving access to finance for women entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan that banks may not have pursued otherwise,” the bank noted.
Meanwhile, following the re-engagement with Uzbekistan in late 2017, the EBRD approved a 5-year country strategy in 2018.
According to the head of the EBRD office in Uzbekistan, Andi Aranitasi, those priorities included the enhancement of competitiveness by strengthening the role of the private sector’s role in the economy, as well as the promotion of green energy and resource solutions across sectors.