YEREVAN, February 3. /ARKA/ AraratBank and BlueOrchard Covid-19 Emerging and Frontier Markets MSME Support Fund concluded a bilateral loan agreement for a total amount of USD 5 million to support MSMEs affected by COVID-19 in Armenia, the bank's press service said in a press release today.   

It said the loan facilities of the Fund will enable micro, small and medium enterprises to further or resume their activities under the conditions of pandemic, while creating jobs and boosting the economy.

“I am happy to report that Covid-19 Emerging and Frontier Markets MSME Support Fund has been launched by BlueOrchard with which AraratBank has been efficiently cooperating since February 2013. These new loan facilities will enable the MSMEs to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Armenia. It is noteworthy that AraratBank has actively participated in the programs to address the economic impact of COVID-19 and has provided loan facilities worth around 6 bln Armenian drams to over 120 beneficiaries affected by the coronavirus,” commented Mher Ananyan, Chairman of the Executive Board of AraratBank. 

Normunds Mizis, Chief Credit Officer of BlueOrchard said, “MSMEs have been particularly exposed to the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic impact. AraratBank successfully adapted in this challenging environment, enhancing and extending its digital banking offering to ensure access for its customers. In these difficult times, we are very proud to support AraratBank and the Armenian MSMEs sector in resuming their operations and businesses and contributing to securing jobs and stabilizing the local economy.”

About AraratBank 

Founded in 1991, AraratBank OJSC is one of the leaders in the Armenian banking sector, providing the latest and highest quality banking services to both individuals and legal entities, applying cutting-edge technologies and creating a special business culture in bank-client relations.

With the innovative banking technologies and best practices of corporate governance, the bank has 56 branches across the country. AraratBank actively participates in the real sector of Armenian economy, particularly in SME lending. AraratBank cooperates with 17 reputable international financial institutions.

By reporting a stable growth of financial indicators year on year, AraratBank takes its unique position in the banking sector of the Republic of Armenia. Despite the global challenges, the bank succeeded in ensuring the stability of key financial indicators in the current year. Thus, as of the performance indicators in late 2020, total assets stood at USD 475.3 million. Loan portfolio stood at USD 283․4 million, with the share of corporate loans totalling 56․6% (USD 160.3 million) and the share of retail loans totalling 46.2% (USD 130.9 million) in the loan portfolio.

Total liabilities in the reporting period stood at USD 402.0 million. The share of borrowings from IFIs in total liabilities stood at around 31.7% or USD 127.5 million, the share of term deposits stood at 22.1% or USD 88.8 million, while the share of demand deposits stood at 22.4% or USD 90.2 million. In 2020, the Bank succeeded in reporting growth of term deposits by USD 18.9 million (27.0%).

Due to AMD devaluation against USD, total capital dropped as compared to the indicator of the previous year – USD 77.9 million, totalling USD 73.2 million. In 2020, net profit stood at USD 2.6 million. Despite the challenges in 2020 as well as the risks of possible outflow of customers’ funds, AraratBank managed to maintain the ratios of capital adequacy at 15.09% and total liquidity at 24.56% as of December. -0-