Washington, 25 June 1997 (RFE/RL) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed an agreement to provide a $30 million credit facility to one of Kazakhstan's largest private commercial banks for loans to small and medium size private businesses in Kazkhstan.
The loan to Kazkommertsbank will allow it to open credit lines for companies in the manufacturing, construction, transport, services and resource-based sectors primarily for expansion and modernization and to produce and export Kazak products.
IFC's Central Asia director Andrew Hovagiumian says the restructuring of the Kazakh banking sector is a "critical component" of the country's economic reforms and the loan will allow the bank to play an "effective role" in developing Kazkhstan.
The IFC is the World Bank's affiliate for the private sector. The credit includes a $10 million loan from the IFC and a $20 million syndicated loan.