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Leading Tajik bank joins EBRD trade programme
TajiksodirotBank has become the second Tajik bank to join the EBRD’s Trade
Finance Programme (TFP). With a limit of up to $2 million, trade finance
guarantees are provided to promote inter-regional as well as international
trade opportunities.
The TFP was initiated in 1999 to support trade to, from and within the Bank’s
27 countries of operations. The EBRD guarantees payment obligations of local
issuing banks to their international confirming counterparts in respect of
trade-finance instruments.
The EBRD guarantees were introduced to free commercial partners from the need
to deposit cash collateral and they thus remove one of the main obstacles to
the financing of trade. EBRD guarantees are normally issued within 24 hours of
receipt of relevant documentation.
More than 85 issuing banks in the Bank's region of operations participate in
the programme together with over 500 confirming banks throughout the world.
Turnover exceeds €1.6 billion, which has been used to finance or guarantee
some 2,800 transactions.
A similar agreement was signed in Tajikistan with TajpromBank in December 2003
for $500,000. Due to its immediate success and growing demand for trade
finance support, the limit was increased to $1.5 million in mid-2004.
The EBRD and TajiksodirotBank also recently signed a $2 million loan under the
Tajik Micro and Small Enterprise Finance Facility. Tajiksodirotbank provides a
wide range of services to corporate clients, SMEs and individuals, including
micro-lending, money remittances and deposit.
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