DUSHANBE, October 31, Asia-Plus - Prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation were major topics of discussions of representatives of the European bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with leadership of AgroInvestBonk in Dushanbe on October 30.  

Jalil Tavakkalov, the head of the AgroInvestBonk department for loans and active operations, said EBRD is ready to provide a syndicated loan of US$5 million to their bank.  The loan will probably have a maturity of two year, according to him.  “An interest rate on this loan is not yet known because before providing the loan EBRD will analyze financial indices,” said Tavakkalov, “But already today one may suppose that the loan carry an annual interest of 14 percent.” 

A syndicated loan (or "syndicated bank facility") is a large loan in which a group of banks work together to provide funds for a borrower. There is usually one lead bank (the "Arranger" or "Agent") that takes a percentage of the loan and syndicates the rest to other banks. A syndicated loan is the opposite of a bilateral loan, which only involves one borrower and one lender (often a bank or financial institution.)

The AgroInvestBonk official added that the main objective of this project is to reconstruct Tajikistan’s economy.  “The loan will be used to fund commercial activity, enhancement of industrial and agrarian sectors and so forth,” Tavakkalov said.

He also supposed that one of international financial institutions may become shareholder of AgroInvestBonk and participate in managing the bank.  “We hope it will the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” the AgroInvestBonk official said.

The EBRD is providing access to finance to Tajik micro and small borrowers (MSE) since October 2003 under the Tajikistan Micro and Small Finance Facility (TMSEF).  The MSEs are recognized as a strong factor of job creation, poverty alleviation and grass-root economic development.  Loans ranging from US$30,000 to US$100,000 are financed by the TMSEF through four Tajik participating banks (TajikSodirotBonk, Eskhata Bank, TajPromBank, AgroInvestBonk).

Founded in 1992, AgroInvestBonk, with headquarters in Dushanbe, has main branches in Khorog, Khujand, Kulob and Qurghon Teppa and 57 other branches across the republic. AgroInvestBonk’s declared capital includes 210,000 shares, valued at 21 million somonis. The face value of one share is 100 somonis.