Ameriabank said today (May 14) it has provided the bulk of funding for establishing a 10.5 hectare greenhouse in the village of Goght in central Kotayk province of Armenia.

"Greenhouses, a dynamically developing agricultural industry in Armenia are in the focus of Ameriabank," the bank said in a new release, according to ARKA.

The construction of the greenhouses in Goght, initiated by Armenian Harvest LLC, was launched in 2014. Earth work has been done on a total area of 30 hectares and the next step is building a greenhouse on 10.5 hectares, the bank said.

The greenhouse will grow melons, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers exporting the entire output to Russia. The company will hire 300 people to work for the greenhouse, according to the news release.

According to Ameriabank, agriculture has been the leading sector of the Armenian economy since 2010.

In 2014 it accounted for about 20 percent of the overall GDP. In recent years gardening, fish farming and, especially, greenhouses have been contributing greatly to agricultural growth. Ameriabank’s greenhouses lending portfolio stands at $40 million now, the highest indicator in the banking system of Armenia.

Ameriabank is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and retail banking services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions. It is the first investment bank in Armenia, providing a wide range of innovative banking services since 2007.

The bank’s assets in the first quarter of 2015 declined by 3.5% year-on-year to 385.8 billion drams, liabilities fell by 4.3% to about 342 billion drams; its total capital upped by 3.3% to 43.75 billion drams and credit investments slashed by 11.2% to about 266.7 billion drams. The bank also earned about 1.5 billion drams in net profit, up 1.7% from the same time span of 2014.