Non-sovereign financing by international financial institutions (IFIs) into the Azerbaijani economy reached $185 million in the third quarter of 2026, which is 4.4 times higher than the figure for the same period in 2025, when the volume was $42 million, Report informs.
This data is cited in the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) analytical brief titled "New players and major projects: International financial institutions' investments in the Q3 2026."
According to the brief, such a noticeable increase in the country was driven by the expansion of guarantee and infrastructure operations involving the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB).
Among the largest transactions of the quarter is an EBRD portfolio guarantee provided to AccessBank with a limit of up to 75 million euros (about $86 million), covering up to 50% of the credit risk on loans issued to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
During this period, EBRD projects were primarily concentrated in the financial sector, with Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan serving as their priority destinations. Additionally, in the third quarter of 2026, the AIIB approved a project in Azerbaijan's water sector for the first time, directing a $45 million loan for the construction of a Caspian Sea water desalination plant. The OPEC Fund also joined the co-financing of this project, providing a loan of $40 million. Thanks to these initiatives, IFI investments in the region's water management sector totaled $85 million for the third quarter, with the Azerbaijani desalination plant becoming the central project in this segment.
The facility, with a design capacity of about 300,000 cubic meters of water per day, will become the first large-scale desalination enterprise in the republic, as well as the country's first public-private partnership project in the water sector.