YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The credit resources of the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) are one of the cheapest credits in the region, the IFC Yerevan Office head Nerses Karamanukian stated at the December 26 press conference. In his words, "there are no cheaper sources of financial resources in this region than the IFC and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)". In the opinion of N. Karamanukian, the cheapness of credits of the IFC and the EBRD is conditioned by the fact that these structures have set themselves the goal of promoting the development of regional financial markets. According to information on the IFC website (www.ifc.org), since 2001, the IFC has invested 21.07 million dollars in Armenia under various programs. 10.57 million dollars of this sum has been provided to several banks - mainly for mortgage and small and medium enterprises (SME) crediting. Another 25 million dollars has been provided to Ardshininvestbank, including 15 million dollars for crediting of the above mentioned sectors.

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