BSTDB further expands its trade finance program in Armenia

News | 19-Feb-2008

Importers and exporters in Armenia will benefit from a revolving trade finance facility the BSTDB is providing to Inecobank (Armenia). BSTDB will increase the existing USD 3 million revolving trade finance facility by another USD 3 million.

BSTDB and Inecobank have been partners since January 2007, when the Armenian bank received the first USD 3 million facility to advance sub-loans to Armenian import/export companies. The new facility will also be used for financing exports from Armenia or imports of goods from the Black Sea region. The operation supports the Bank’s strategy to finance business involved in regional trade.

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Inecobank was established in 1996 as a private bank and maintains strong ranking in the Armenian banking market. 10% of its capital belongs to IFC, with another 13,5% owned by ShoreCap, an international investment company founded by Asian Development Bank, IFC, FMO (Netherlands), FinnFund (Finland) and reputable international commercial banks. Inecobank has developed good experience in SME lending area under credit lines provided by the World Bank, Eurasia foundation, USAID financed programs, KfW (Germany), EBRD and DEG, a member of KfW banking group. According to “Forbes” rankings of Microfinance Institutions Inecobank was among the MIX’s list of top 50 micro-lending institutions in the world being in the 26th place by its rank.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. With an authorized capital of SDR 3 billion (approx. USD 4,5 billion), the Bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects in the public and private sectors in its member countries. BSTDB is rated Long Term Baa1 and Short Term P2 by Moody’s.