EBRD lends Davr Bank and Hamkorbank up to $43 million in Uzbekistan
Davr Bank gets up to $25 million for firms led by under-35s; Hamkorbank gets a package of up to $20 million, up to $2 million from the Green Climate Fund.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending up to $25 million to Davr Bank for young entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan, it said on 29 October, and has made Hamkorbank the first bank in a new green framework with the Green Climate Fund.
The Davr Bank loan is a senior loan under the EBRD's Youth in Business programme for Central Asia, for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises led or owned by people under 35, and can be disbursed in synthetic Uzbek som or in dollars. At least a third of the money goes to women-led businesses, and the bank will also target firms in rural areas. Eligible young clients get training and advice under the EBRD's Advice for Small Businesses programme. The release cites government data that more than 26 per cent of Uzbekistan's population is aged 30 or under.
Hamkorbank, which the EBRD calls Uzbekistan's third-largest lender, receives up to $20 million under the Greening Financial Systems framework, the next phase of the Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) in the country, the bank said the same day. The package is an EBRD loan of up to $18 million and up to $2 million of concessional money from the Green Climate Fund, for investments in climate mitigation, such as energy efficiency, and adaptation, such as irrigation. The bank puts the possible reduction in emissions at about 5,685 tonnes of CO2 a year.
The first two GEFF phases in Uzbekistan built a financing framework of $160 million, and the facility has supported 425 green projects through five participating financial institutions, the release says; close to 10 per cent of the projects supported women-led or women-owned businesses. Hamkorbank first joined the facility in November 2021 with a $10 million loan. The bank runs separate GEFF facilities by country; in Türkiye this month it arranged up to €100 million for İş Leasing under the third Turkish one, and the Uzbek deals follow the ADB's $200 million loan for Uzbek power distribution.
The two releases give different running totals for the bank's investment in Uzbekistan: almost $7.3 billion through 219 projects in the Davr Bank release and almost $6.9 billion through 217 projects in the Hamkorbank release. Neither gives the tenor or pricing of the loans.