Bulk of $273 Mil. Raised by Ameriabank Channeled Into Small Business

YEREVAN (Arka)—The bulk of $273 million raised by Ameriabank from international lending organizations since its inception in Armenia was channeled into small and medium businesses, Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan told a news conference Monday, adding also that small and medium businesses as well as the energy sector are the bank’s target sectors.

He said the bank is one of the most active lenders to the energy sector having allocated since 2009 some $64 million in loans for the construction and re-equipment of small hydropower plants. He said the bank’s loans were used to build and reconstruct a total of 46 small hydropower plants.

According to him, at the moment the current portfolio of loans provided to this sector is worth $29 million for construction and reconstruction of 29 hydropower plants. Another $4 million were provided for energy saving projects.

He recalled that in 2013 the bank attracted a credit line of $15 million from the Development Bank of Austria (OEB) for lending to small and medium-sized businesses and renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Ameriabank is a universal bank that provides investment, corporate and retail banking services in the form of an integrated package of solutions.