YEREVAN, November 14. /ARKA/. The Asian Development Bank’s loan portfolio for financing the private sector in Armenia amounted to $140 million in 2017, Shane Rosenthal, the head of the ADB Resident Mission, told ARKA News Agency.

In his words, this is a quite high indicator, since the bank has invested in Armenia’s private sector $136 million over 12 years of its presence in the country.

He said that the ADB is engaged mainly in infrastructural projects here.

Investments in the private sector, he said, show that there is trust in the future.

Rosenthal said there are no particular figures on how much the bank will invest in Armenia in 2018, but there are particular preliminary arrangements with the government.

It has become known from his interview with ARKA News Agency that the Asian Development Bank will continue financing projects in both private and public sectors.

Infrastructure development projects are among them. The bank will also provide technical assistance grants.

Speaking about large projects in private sector, Shane Rosenthal said that in 2018 the ADB is ready to continue financing Armenian Electric Networks, where it is already implementing a €80-million network modernization project.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an international development finance institution dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through direct loans and technical assistance. The ADB was established on 19 December 1966.

Since then, the ADB started cooperating with the Armenian government in 2005. It has approved 6 loans totaling $1.27 billion and has also provided $16.5 million to Armenia in 26 technical grants. --0---