The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has extended a new local currency SME facility of AZN 10 million to TuranBank for on-lending to domestic small businesses, Trend reports with reference to the Bank.

The financing will enable TuranBank to increase availability of funds for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for their production and investment programmes and for working capital needs.

The new BSTDB local currency loan will facilitate the recovery and development of the SME sector in Azerbaijan, stimulate job creation and generate budget revenues.

Dmitry Pankin, BSTDB President, said: “We are happy to strengthen our support for Azerbaijani SMEs in the form of Manat financing and to reach out to new businesses in every part of Azerbaijan in cooperation with TuranBank. Providing fresh funds in the local currency will give great comfort to the small and medium enterprises and will not pose exchange rate challenges, especially amidst the ongoing pandemic.”

“We have been successfully cooperating with the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) since 2011. In 2019, we financed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by providing resources in manat currency, and we were able to provide an adequate number of our customers with that financial resource. The new second line of SME financing given by the BSTDB will allow increasing our activity further. At the same time, the allocation of resources in manat also protects us against currency risks. Henceforth, we will continue to contribute to the sustainable development of the real sector in the country with the support of international financial institutions, including the BSTDB.”, said Fazail Musayev, Chairman of the Management Board of TuranBank.

This is the BSTDB’s second Manat SME loan to Turanbnak after the successful utilization of the first facility provided in 2019, that reached more than 3000 SMEs in the country. BSTDB started cooperation with TuranBank in 2011, having extended two Trade Finance credit lines denominated in US Dollars before 2019.

Source: TREND News Agency