The FINANCIAL, Georgia
Feb 21 2008

BSTDB further expands its trade finance program in Armenia

21/02/2008 12:33

The FINANCIAL — Importers and exporters in Armenia will benefit from
a revolving trade finance facility the BSTDB is providing to
Inecobank (Armenia). BSTDB will increase the existing USD 3 million
revolving trade finance facility by another USD 3 million.

BSTDB and Inecobank have been partners since January 2007, when the
Armenian bank received the first USD 3 million facility to advance
sub-loans to Armenian import/export companies. The new facility will
also be used for financing exports from Armenia or imports of goods
>From the Black Sea region. The operation supports the Bank’s strategy
to finance business involved in regional trade.

Inecobank was established in 1996 as a private bank and maintains
strong ranking in the Armenian banking market. 10% of its capital
belongs to IFC, with another 13,5% owned by ShoreCap, an
international investment company founded by Asian Development Bank,
IFC, FMO (Netherlands), FinnFund (Finland) and reputable
international commercial banks. Inecobank has developed good
experience in SME lending area under credit lines provided by the
World Bank, Eurasia foundation, USAID financed programs, KfW
(Germany), EBRD and DEG, a member of KfW banking group. According to
`Forbes’ rankings of Microfinance Institutions Inecobank was among
the MIX’s list of top 50 micro-lending institutions in the world
being in the 26th place by its rank.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international
financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and
Ukraine . The BSTDB headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. With an
authorized capital of SDR 3 billion (approx. USD 4,5 billion), the
Bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by
providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects in
the public and private sectors in its member countries. BSTDB is
rated Long Term Baa1 and Short Term P2 by Moody’s.