MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD to Lend $20m to Uzbekistan’s Hamkorbank to Support SMEs

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, England, recently announced that it will loan USD 30 million to Uzbekistan’s Joint Stock Commercial Bank (JSCB) Hamkorbank. Two thirds of the loan is earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the remainder is under EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), which aims to increase international trade. TFP “has supported over 20,000 trade finance transactions totalling EUR 15 billion [USD 18 billion] across the EBRD region” [1].

Hamkorbank has USD 1.2 billion in total assets and a gross loan portfolio of USD 741 million as of 2016. Hamkorbank has a network of 32 branches and 177 service outlets as of 2017 [2].

EBRD reports that “Between 1992 and 2010, [it] invested EUR 894 million (USD 1 billion) in Uzbekistan in 54 projects.” In 2017 it began renewing efforts in the country with several projects planned for 2018 and beyond [1].
EBRD, which began operations in 1991 upon the agreement of 40 countries, is owned by 65 countries as well as the European Investment Bank and the European Union as of 2017. It aims to finance operations that are both commercially viable and assist development in Central and Western Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa. It does this by providing loans, debt securities, equity investments, guarantees and technical assistance to micro- and small businesses via commercial banks and non-bank microfinance institutions. During 2016, EBRD invested EUR 9.4 billion (USD 10.5 billion) in 378 projects in 35 countries, and as of December of that year it reported total assets of EUR 24 billion (USD 28.7 billion) [3].

By Alexander Gelfond, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Information

[1] EBRD press release: http://www.ebrd.com/news/2017/ebrd-in-us-30-million-facility-to-uzbekistans-hamkorbank.html

[2] Hamkorbank profile at the MIX Market: https://www.themix.org/mixmarket/profiles/hamkorbank

[3] MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, European Union Launch Agribusiness Program in Tajikistan with $2m in Local-currency for MFI Arvand:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-ebrd-european-union-launch-agribusiness-program-tajikistan-2m-local-currency-mfi-arvand/

Hamkorbank: https://hamkorbank.uz/

EBRD: http://www.ebrd.com/

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