ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s Baiterek Holding and Damu Fund will attract a loan of 200 million euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for Kazakh small and medium enterprise (SME) projects, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported on September 21.
According to the holding company, a credit line of the European Investment Bank will be allocated to Damu Fund under the guarantee of Baiterek Holding. Funds for small and medium-sized businesses will be issued through Kazakh second-tier banks in the national currency, the tenge, which will eliminate exchange risks for banks and entrepreneurs.
The EIB funds will be spent on the so-called “green” projects that promote climate change mitigation, sustainable energy consumption, energy efficiency, environmental protection, and so on.
“Today, our country is actively attracting investments for the transition to a green economy. A loan of 200 million euros will be an impetus for the creation of projects of small and medium-sized businesses aimed at energy conservation and efficiency. The final conditions for obtaining loans by entrepreneurs for these projects will be developed within two months. The funds will be allocated in several tranches for specific projects only,” said the Chairman of the Board of Damu Fund Kanysh Tuleushin.
According to preliminary estimates, it is expected that the amount of loans allocated under this program will be 103.4 billion tenge, and 500 borrowers will get money for “green” projects. It is planned that they will create about a thousand new jobs and pay 87.5 billion tenge in taxes.
