Central Asian SMEs receive big support

China Development Bank is extending support to small and medium-sized enterprises in Uzbekistan and promoting cultural exchanges in the Central Asian country.

"I really appreciate the financial support from CDB, which has enabled us to import advanced machines and equipment from China, expand businesses and increase profitability," said Shaszik Khozjaev, the founder of a small business in Uzbekistan.

The Central Asian nation is home to a high number of small businesses that collectively are the pillar of local economy. As a result, the Uzbekistani government has made it a priority to develop SMEs.

But businesses in Uzbekistan face a number of challenges, such as limited accessibility to funding and high financing costs in a country with tight foreign exchange controls.

Since 2007, CDB has campaigned to extend credits to Uzbekistani financial institutions to support its SMEs.

The Interbank Consortium, which falls under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, is made up of six banks from the SCO member countries of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and includes CDB.

Expanded cooperation on SMEs in Uzbekistan, a country situated on the ancient Silk Road, is in line with CDB's strategy for encouraging capital flows to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, the bank said.

To date, CDB has offered five lines of credit worth $405 million to Uzbekistan's National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, also a member of the SCO Interbank Consortium.

Through the National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, CDB has offered loans to SMEs in textiles, construction materials, agriculture, food processing and services.

More than 370 SMEs in Uzbekistan have benefited from credit offered by CDB, importing about $260 million machines and equipment from nearly 200 Chinese companies.

After improving the cooperation model with Uzbekistan's National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, CDB has incorporated it into a partnership with the country's second- and third-largest commercial banks, Uzbek Industrial and Construction Bank and Asaka Bank.

(China Daily 03/11/2016 page7)