YEREVAN, March 7. /ARKA/. Armenian banks will provide 16 million euros worth loans to women entrepreneurs as part of EBRD's Women in Business program, which is being implemented in the Eastern Partnership countries, Zara Ohanyan, the project coordinator in Armenia, told journalists on Tuesday.

She said the total cost of the program is 55 million euros. The program is designed for all countries of the Eastern Partnership. Another 4.5 million euros will be provided to banks to cover their risks. This is expected to allow them to reduce the costs of credit services.

Two Armenian banks - Ameriabank and ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK, joined the program in 2016 December. Today Araratbank signed a memorandum to join it as well. It will also provide affordable loans to women entrepreneurs under this project.

The loan terms for women will be more favorable and will apply only to local business ladies engaged in small and medium-sized businesses. The EBRD provides not only financing, but also consulting assistance.

The program is funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union, the government of Sweden and the Early Transition Fund. As part of the program, the EBRD provided €55 million, the Swedish government €5.2 million, the EU €4.5 million, and the EBRD Early Transition Fund €0.9 million.

The EBRD program Women in Business was created to strengthen the role of women in the economy. It has been successfully implemented in 25 countries. The program ensures the availability of financing through credit lines in local banks, as well as through providing business advice, training and assistance to women entrepreneurs and women-led companies.

The program combines financing, technical assistance, risk reduction for local financial organizations, as well as business advice to assist women-managed SMEs. Technical assistance and consulting services are co-financed by the EBRD, as well as the governments of Luxembourg and Sweden. --0--