YEN Azerbaijan

Baku, September 25, AssA-Irada

The EBRD has expanded its support for micro-finance in Azerbaijan by
extending a $1 million loan to the local institution CredAgro.

$250,000 of the amount is being funded by TaiwanICDF. The loan is provided
under the Non-bank Microfinance Institutions Framework for Early Transition
Countries launched in 2005.

CredAgro, set up in 2000, is a microfinance institution with a strong focus
on agricultural and rural lending.

"Although Azerbaijan has strongly benefited from oil and oil-related
business in recent years, agriculture remains the country's second largest
economic sector, contributing 14% to the country's GDP and providing
employment to 40% of the population. The EBRD loan is set to facilitate
access to finance for this vital sector of the economy as the funds will be
on-lent to rural entrepreneurs," the EBRD said.

The EBRD's Non-bank Microfinance Institutions Framework for Early Transition
Countries aims at strengthening microfinance institutions. Such loans are
provided for on-lending to the smallest borrowers in Armenia, Georgia, the
Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The EBRD, owned by 60 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, aims
to foster the transition from centrally planned to market economies in
central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.*