YEREVAN, January 20. /ARKA/. Armenian Araratbank and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed on Friday a $4 million loan agreement to finance micro and small businesses in Armenia.

"This is a new opportunity and a new way of cooperation with the Eurasian Development Bank," Araratbank CEO, Ashot Osipyan, said after the signing ceremony.

Osipyan said it is the first such agreement with Eurasian Development Bank and added that loans will be provided at an average interest rate of 12-14% with a maturity of 3-5 years.

"We are actively cooperating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, German bank KfW to boost lending to small and micro businesses in Armenia. The agreement with Eurasian Development Bank increases our opportunities," he said.

Osipyan said that loan will be provided in U.S. dollars, and the lending to small and micro business will be also in hard currency.

The deputy chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank, Dmitry Zhurba, said it took a lot of time to prepare the deal. He said the Eurasian Development bank will increase its presence in Armenia.

"Araratbank has been working with other international financial institutions for a long time and I hope that our cooperation will develop and deepen,’ he said.

Araratbank, previously called Haykap Bank, was founded in 1991 and provides a full range of banking services to corporate, MSME and retail customers. The bank has established a reputation as a small but reliable and dynamically growing financial institution. EBRD holds 25% in Araratbank. The rest is held by Barsegh Beglarian, head of the biggest petrol importing company Flash.

EDB was founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 in order to facilitate the development of market economies of member countries. Its authorized capital exceeds $1.5 billion. Member states are Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Tajikistan. The bank has already provided Armenia with over $20 million loans. -0-