YEREVAN, November 29. /ARKA/. Credit agreements with three Armenian banks will be signed the next week, said David Dole, Resident Representative of Asian Development Bank in Armenia.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved loans of up to $65 million to help Armenia expand its small and medium-sized business sector.

The five-year loans will be made to four Armenian banks for onlending to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which make up almost 98% of all businesses and provide more than 40% of the country’s gross domestic product and employment.

The four banks earmarked to receive loans - ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, Ardshininvestbank, Ameriabank, and Inecobank - all have strong financial credentials and are committed to expanding their lending to SMEs.

Today the Asian Development Bank signed an agreement with Ameriabank. Under this agreement, the ADB will lend $20 million to Ameriabank for onlending SMEs.
Dole said that lending to the private sector is underdeveloped in Armenia, compared with the Central Europe and Asia.
The loan the ADB extends to Ameriabank and other banks is aimed at developing functions of onlending to the private sector.
Dole said that this is the Asian Development Bank’s first initiative for supporting Armenia’s private sector and its largest program on support for the financial sector.

He expressed hope that this project would contribute to enlargement of banks’ lending to SMEs.
Armenia joined the bank in 2005.

Asian Development Bank was established in 1966. The bank has 67 members. In 2010, its financing amounted to $17.51 billion. The current trade financing program amounts to $2.8 billion.-0---