(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 1. The International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the world's largest development
institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets,
invested $1.04 billion in Central Asia for fiscal year 2024, which
spanned from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, Trend reports via the
IFC.
This included over $400 million in long-term financing from
IFC's own account, $600 million through mobilization, and $35
million in short-term trade and supply-chain financing aimed at
facilitating trade across the region.
IFC's commitment supported a range of critical sectors such as
finance, capital markets, renewable energy, agriculture, and
infrastructure, with a focus on strengthening financial inclusion,
advancing climate initiatives, and fostering gender diversity.
These efforts contributed to the creation of around 35,000 jobs
across Central Asia, including employment for more than 13,000
women.
Key priorities for IFC included bolstering local financial
markets. Over the fiscal year, the institution provided $228
million in investments to 10 financial institutions in Kazakhstan,
the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, with nearly half
of these funds dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs and
rural enterprises. IFC also assisted financial institutions in
expanding micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME)
offerings, promoting climate finance and digital transformation,
and facilitating the issuance of the region's first sustainability,
social, and green bonds.
In Uzbekistan, IFC joined forces with the World Bank to finance
a solar plant equipped with the country's first battery energy
storage system. This project is set to provide electricity to
approximately 75,000 households in the Bukhara region, supporting
the nation's green transition and climate goals. Meanwhile, in
Tajikistan, an IDA country, IFC invested in Eskhata Bank's issuance
of the first green bond, which will finance climate-smart projects
and environmentally focused MSMEs.
In Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, IFC extended its impact
through investment in financial inclusion and new advisory
projects. It is currently exploring public-private partnerships
(PPPs) in sectors such as drinking water supply, renewable energy
solutions (including geothermal applications for heating and
cooling), and railways that are part of the Middle Corridor.
Additionally, IFC is working on Central Asia's first municipal
green bond in Kazakhstan and supporting the country's methane
reduction efforts aligned with the Global Methane Pledge.
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