Eurasian Development Bank provides Ardshinbank with USD 20 million to support SMEs

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has granted Ardshinbank a credit line in the amount of USD 20 million for a period of 3 years to provide financial support to the country’s small and medium-sized businesses. A relevant agreement was signed on September 7, 2021 by EDB Management Board Chairman Nikolay Podguzov, and Ardshinbank Management Board Chairman Artak Ananyan.

“Ardshinbank and the Eurasian Development Bank have built up close ties and good traditions of effective cooperation for more than 8 years. The first USD 10 million-worth loan facility was signed back in 2014. The latter was meant to support SME development in Armenia.

A total of USD 20 million was disbursed under the second arrangement, which was signed in 2017 and sought to support the foreign trade operations carried out by Armenian private entities within the Eurasian economic space. The aforementioned transactions went a long way towards improving the socio-economic situation in the country and bolstering the level of employment in the field of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship.

We expect that the new USD 20 million-worth facility that is going to be signed today will not only provide favorable conditions for sustainable SME development, but will also help us develop a competitive market environment for Armenian SMEs in domestic and foreign markets,” Ardshinbank Board Chairman Artak Ananyan said during the signing ceremony. Highly appreciative of the current status of interaction with the EDB, he noted in particular that the EDB has a reliable and strategic partner in Armenia’s financial market in the face of Ardshinbank.

In turn, EDB Management Board Chairman Nikolay Podguzov emphasized that the EDB seeks to create SME-friendly environments in EDB-member countries, considering that the SME sector plays a pivotal role in small economies.

This new arrangement signed with Ardshinbank will take to USD 171 million the overall volume of EDB investments in Armenia’s financial sector, and these funds will help propel the country’s socio-economic development, since the emergence of new companies and thriving entrepreneurship implies new jobs, new export opportunities and growth of related industries and infrastructure.

“As a vivid evidence of EDB’s confidence in the strategy and prospects of Ardshinbank, this loan will help expand the range of banking services provided to small and medium - sized businesses,” the Eurasian Development Bank Management Board Chairman underscored.