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international development aid

IMPLEMENTED PROJECTS > Preparing AgrarCredit (Agricultural Credit Corporation) for Privatisation

Project Description

  • Country – Azerbaijan
  • Donor – EuropeAid
  • Duration – 24 months
  • Status – completed

The main objective of the project was to prepare Agrarcredit (former Rural Credit Foundation) to actively contribute to the agenda of the Presidential Decree of 24th November 2003 regarding the reduction of unemployment and job generation by intensifying the lending to rural private entities.

The projected assisted Agrarcredit to further develop as financial institution qualified to undertake rural lending with the necessary professional know-how.

As the result of the project:

  1. Agrarcredit  has improved and increased its loan portfolio;
  2. Agrarcredit has made evident progress towards compliance with the NBAR regulations for corporate governance of banks;
  3. The international auditors Deloitte & Touche have confirmed the audit report on the 2004 financial documents. A contract for the audit of the 2005 documents was prepared;
  4. The consultant summarised the experience in the privatisation environment in Azerbaijan and forwarded a number of recommendations;
  5. The project continued to coordinate with other actors and has secured further TA from the EU and EBRD.


Specific activities implemented under the project included:

  • creation of new loan products for urban and rural SMEs;
  • supervision of the whole scope of bank procedures;
  • further development of a credit scoring system;
  • design and establishment of an improved branch network;
  • MIS system to improve market access;
  • improvement internal audit system;
  • assistance in preparation and implementation of international audit;
  • elaboration of privatisation schemes;
  • strengthening of risk management and corporate governance functions.

Project Photos