YEREVAN, February 10. /ARKA/. The Black Sea Trade & Development Bank has signed a USD 10-million loan agreement with Armeconombank. President of the BSTDB Dmitry Pankin said Monday after the signing ceremony that this is already the third loan the bank is providing to Armeconombank.

He said the previous loans had been used for financing small and mid-scale businesses. "More than 180 loans have been extended and we hope that the new agreement will be used for financing SMEs, since we find it very important for Armenia to create favorable conditions for SME development," he said.

Pankin said that BSTDB, as international development bank, can't reach every small organization because of the lack of regional offices in member countries.

In this context, he stressed the importance of interaction with the local bank, which already can provide small loans to small businesses. "It is very convenient and comfortable to us to operate in Armenia's banking system," Pankin said. "As a rule, we call cooperation with a commercial bank 'the black box' - accountability is good in the first month and bad in the next month. Working in Armenia, we know that there will be nothing like that here - all banks are under strict control, financial things are understandable and predictable and such a financial system allows foreign investors to work here effectively. We hope for further development of our cooperation."

Chairman of Armeconombank's Board Aram Khachatryan, on his side, said that the bank highly appreciates its relations with the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank. He stressed that the bank has a 20-year cooperation record, and now the cooperation is gaining momentum.
"In accordance with the new agreement, loan means will be used for financing small and medium businesses, and this is expected to make it possible to drive the loan interest rate for SMEs down," he said. Khachatryan said that the rate will be changing depending on the business doing area, but the rate is planned to be lowered for short-term loans by 1 - 1.5 percent. He also said that the previous loans received from the BSTDB amounted to $10 million each.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. The organization's headquarter is in Thessaloniki.

The BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, guarantees, and equity for development projects and trade transactions. It supports both public and private enterprises in member countries and does not attach political conditionality to its financing.

Armenia's share in the BSTDB capital is 1%. Since 1999, the bank has approved financing for 400 programs of the total amount of €6.1 billion. The bank started providing loans to Armenia in 2004. The bank has sealed in Armenia 36 lending programs totaling €241 million over a period between 2004 and 2020. The lent financial means were used for financing SMEs and trade as well as providing mortgage loans.

Armeconombank was registered on August 26, 1991. It was the first bank in Armenia to be reorganized into a joint stock company. The bank is a member of Armenia Securities Exchange from February 2009 and a member of the Central Depository's securities settlement system from July 2015. -0---