EDF: Interest subsidies of 68.5M manats ($40.2M) allocated to entrepreneurs affected by pandemic

A total of 41.4 million manats ($24.3 million) were paid to entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic by January 1, 2023, including 26.1 million manats ($15.3 million) in 2022 within the framework of the program of state support for entrepreneurs, Osman Khaliyev, head of the Board of Entrepreneurship Development Fund (EDF) under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, told a press conference on the results of EDF in 2022, Report informs.

"Paying interest subsidies on existing loans to business entities affected by the pandemic also continued last year. According to this support mechanism, subsidies in the amount of 10 percentage points of the interest rate of loans were given based on entrepreneurs' credit debt applications as of March 10, 2020. Within the program, as of January 1, 2023, the Fund had approved granting 71.9 million manats worth ($42.2 million) interest subsidies to 5,052 applications with a remaining amount of loans of 877.94 million manats ($515.7 million), of which 68.5 million manats ($40.2 million) have already been paid to business entities. At present, accepting applications through this mechanism continues," Khaliyev said.