The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a financing package of up to $200 million (€172.4 million) in local currency equivalent to Bank CenterCredit (BCC), Kazakhstan’s third-largest commercial lender, to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and expand access to green technologies.
According to the EBRD, this is the largest bilateral financing package it has provided to a bank in Kazakhstan.
The package consists of four senior loans of up to $50 million (€43.1 million) each. One loan will support MSMEs across the country, which account for nearly 40% of Kazakhstan’s GDP and employ more than 4.4 million people.
Another loan will be provided under the EBRD’s Kazakhstan Women in Business (WiB) programme to support women-led enterprises. A third loan under the Youth in Business (YiB) programme for Central Asia will target businesses led or owned by entrepreneurs under the age of 35.
The fourth loan will be issued through the Kazakhstan Green Economy Financing Facility II, supported by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), to promote renewable energy adoption and help companies and households improve energy efficiency.
The loans supporting MSMEs and those under the Women in Business and Youth in Business programmes are backed by the government of Kazakhstan.
To date, the EBRD has invested nearly $12 billion (€10.2 billion) in Kazakhstan through 345 projects, making the country the bank’s largest and longest-running investment destination in Central Asia.
