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Friday, March 15, 2024

EBRD extends loan to Kyrgyz food retail chain NASH

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is helping the expansion of the small Kyrgyz retail food chain NASH with an $840,000 loan under a joint EBRD-EU program for small business support.

The loan will partially finance the purchase of additional premises, trade and warehouse equipment and the construction of new facilities.

The EBRD said the investment is driven by strong growth potential in the Kyrgyz retail market, where there is still a low concentration of retail chains in the capital, Bishkek, and in the rest of the country.

"This is a small but important investment for the Bank, as we have defined support for local private enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic as one of our priorities. Local companies are vital for the balanced and sound development of the Kyrgyz economy. The project will have an important impact through skill transfers and the setting of standards for business conduct as well as for health and safety regulations. In addition, support for local enterprise is an area in which the EBRD instruments for financial support and technical assistance have a significant effect," Gilles Mettetal, EBRD's director of agribusiness, said.

NASH is one of ten projects in Central Asia that have been financed under the joint EBRD-EU SME Finance Facility for Central Asia, created in 2012 to support direct lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and indirect financing of SMEs via local banks in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.