The Eurasian Development Bank (EADB) adopted the Program on Support and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises through Provision of Targeted Credit Lines to Financial Institutions. The program aims to create favorable conditions for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the bank’s member countries and increase their competitiveness in internal and external markets, the EADB press service reported.
The program addresses problems of the development of SME production capacities, creating job opportunities, increasing tax payments to budgets, contributing to growth in internal trade and mutual investments, as well as at increasing the mutual trade turnovers among the bank’s member countries.
If all requirements are met, the EADB will open a credit line for each financial institution with a maturity period from three to five years for targeted financing of SME projects. Credit’s sum will be defined individually within borrower’s limits.
Meanwhile, borrowers represented by financial institutions will be themselves selecting SME projects for financing, relevant requirements for the approved programs and submitting data on them to the EADB. In its turn, the bank will be reconciling the selected projects after evaluation of their compliance with the Program’s requirements for SME projects. Sub-loans will be provided to SMEs with a term from three months to five years to purchase and upgrade fixed assets, expand and diversify business, introduce new technologies, develop innovative activity, produce output for export and import replacement, etc.
Taking into consideration the fact that the EADB operates in five countries with different levels of economy development, including in Armenia, the bank approved its own definition of SMEs, what will provide with the opportunity to make the program universal for all economies of the bank’s member countries.
