A press conference was held on January 25 on the results of the activities of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund (EDF) in 2022 and the upcoming tasks.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fund Osman Khaliyev made a presentation about the work done last year and informed the press about the measures to be implemented.
It was reported that the EDF provided concessional loans in the amount of 145.9 million manat to finance 2726 investment projects with a total value of 399.4 million manats in 2022. These loans have created more than 3000 new jobs. 59.8% of the issued loans were directed to the development of agriculture, 23.9% to the production and processing of industrial products, 6.5% to tourism, and 9.9% to other (education, medicine, etc.) areas. 70.6% of concessional loans belong to the regions, and 29.4% to the city of Baku and Absheron. Last year, 99.9% of concessional loans were issued to micro, small and medium enterprises in terms of the number of projects, and 98.3% in terms of the loan amount.
Subsidy payments on state-guaranteed loans to entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic continued. In general, 41.4 million manats were paid by January 1, 2023, including 26.1 million manats within the framework of the support program during 2022. Subsidy payments will continue throughout the loan period.
Payment of interest subsidies on existing loans to business entities affected by the pandemic was continued last year. According to this support mechanism, subsidies in the amount of 10% of the interest rate of loans were provided based on the application of entrepreneurs with loan debt as of March 10, 2020. The Fund has approved the granting of interest subsidies of 71.9 million manats to 5,052 applications with a loan balance of 877.94 million manats within the framework of the program, as of January 1, 2023 and 68.5 million manats of this amount have already been paid to business entities. Applications under this mechanism are currently being accepted.
Information was given at the event on the work done over the past year on the initiative of the Fund to raise awareness about preferential financial support mechanisms from the state, to train entrepreneurs in the regions, and to support women and young entrepreneurs as well as, the targets and priorities related to the mechanism "State support for entrepreneurs operating in liberated territories", to be implemented in 2023, were brought to attention.
At the end, the questions of media representatives were answered.
