DUSHANBE, June 17, Asia-Plus — Since the beginning of this year, open joint-stock company (OJSC) Eskhata Bank has provided $14.782 million in loans to support development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country, which is nearly 2.7 times more than in the same period of last year ($5.529 million), according to Eskhata Bank’s press service.
Over the report period, Eskhata Bank has allocated some 2,600 loans, which is 2.6 times more than in the same period of 2007, when 956 loans were allocated.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Nosir Oripov, Eskhata Bank project department coordinator, the mentioned good indices had been reached due the Tajikistan Micro and Small Enterprise Finance Facility (TMSEF) Project, supported by the European bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The EBRD is providing access to finance to Tajik micro and small borrowers (MSE) since October 2003. The MSEs are recognized as a strong factor of job creation, poverty alleviation and grass-root economic development. As of March 31 2008, 10,686 micro loans for more than US$ 50 million millions have been financed by the TMSEF, Oripov said.
According to him, overdue loans have amounted to 0.1 percent of bank’s loan portfolio.
Established in November 1993, a privately owned Eskhata Bank, with headquarters in Khujand, has eight branches in various regions of the country. The bank got operating license in 1994. In December 2005, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) took equity in Eskhata Bank that allowed Eskhata to continue to comply with the National Bank of Tajikistan’s minimum capital requirements, which have been revised upwards to $5 million.
As of May 1 2008, an authorized capital stock of Eskhata Bank has amounted to 13.4805 million somonis (equivalent to some $3.9 million) and its regulative capital has amounted to 31.4745 somonis ($9.2 million).
