Saturday, December 20 2014 18:08
INECOBANK receives first US$5mn tranche from EBRD to finance renewable energy and SME
ArmInfo. On December 19, INECOBANK received the first US$5mn tranche under the US$10mn loan agreement with EBRD. The bank is expected to finance renewable energy sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). According to INECOBANK press-service, the first tranche will be on-lent to companies for implementation of energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as to privates in terms of consumer loans.
"INECOBANK has been cooperating with EBRD for already ten years and have raised already $45mn loans for SME finance and trade facilitation in Armenia. The new loans not only will help development the SME sector, but also reduce consumption of energy resources, which is very important," says Avetis Baloyan, INECOBANK CEO. According to him, the bank raised $33 million loans from international financial organizations and funds in 2014 and plans to raised $9 million more to finance the SME sector. Eventually, INECOBANK will have been raised $140 million from international financial organization by the end of the year, he said.
According to the source, customers who receive loans under the given agreement, will enjoy a 15% cashback due to grants provided by the EBRD. The majority shareholders of the bank are Baloyan Avetis - 35,23%, Safaryan Karen - 30,34%, a member of KfW - Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklunsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) - 12,58%, (IFC) - 9,32%. The loan portfolio of the Bank grew 23.5% for 2014, while the deposit portfolio grew 19.5%, assets - 10.8%.