WB reveals date of approving 100-million loan for Azerbaijan - EXCLUSIVE

The agenda of the World Bank's (WB) Board meeting due on March 19 also includes the approval of a project to support employment in Azerbaijan.

Report, citing the World Bank, says the bank plans to allocate a $100 mln-loan on conditions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The project, which is to cover 27 regions, will extend to other parts of the country starting in 2021. It selects the areas for their population, unemployment statistics, and the number of those involved in the self-employment program. The project will support activities not related to animal breeding and implemented within the self-employment program (SEP).

The plan is to support 22,000 participants who can build a more profitable business during the project, which includes three components – increasing the scope and effectiveness of the self-employment program, strengthening the capacity of the SEP, project management, monitoring, and evaluation.

The bank will allocate AZN 3,500 in grant to SEP participants who intend to extend the entrepreneurial activity.

WB says that the project seeks to increase employment among vulnerable groups of Azerbaijani population who are looking for jobs, including youth, women, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, and people with low levels of education. All the same, the project will support the activity of the UNDP by involving people with disabilities in the labor market. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the people with limited health abilities (620,000 people) constitute 14% of SEP participants.