ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia and the German KfW Development Bank on December 20 signed a loan agreement for 70 million euros for the implementation of the 3rd stage of the financing program for small and medium-sized businesses in Armenia. This amount is essentially the largest in the period of the Armenian-German intergovernmental cooperation under this program. This is stated in the message of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, where it is noted that in addition to the agreement, technical support is provided.
The same message states that the signing of the agreement was laid down in the 2020 agreement on financial cooperation between the governments of Germany and Armenia.
The signing ceremony was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Armenia Viktor Richte German Deputy Ambassador to Armenia Klaus Wendelberger, Regional Director of KfW Bank for the South Caucasus Birgit Holderied-Kress and other invited guests.
In January of this year, Agreements between the governments of Germany and the Republic of Armenia on the following projects were reached: 40 million euros - for the development of renewable energy sources; 3 million euros - for technical assistance in the development of renewable energy sources; 3 million euros for sustainable local development and biodiversity; 70 million euros - to support small and medium-sized businesses; and 400 thousand euros - for technical support of small and medium-sized businesses.
KfW is one of the largest donors to Armenia. Over the past 20 years, KfW's investments have exceeded 600 million euros in more than 16 programs, including in the field of SMEs, the agricultural sector, the energy complex, the environment, and in the financial and banking sector. Armenia's external debt to the Bank at the end of 2020 reached $ 408.4 million (8% in the total external debt of the RA), having increased by 7.4% over the year, and by October 2021 exceeded $ 410.7 million (8.3% in the total external debt of the RA) with a y-o-y growth of only 0.6%.
