Stepan Gishyan, CEO of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, said that the bank secured an unprecedented growth in its credit portfolio in 2011.

“The AMD 100bln figure was exceeded 10 days ago, currently our loan portfolio makes AMD 104bln,” said Gishyan.

On March 30, a loan agreement was signed between IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, under which IFC will allocate USD 20mln to the bank to finance SMEs, including those operating in agribusiness sector.

Gishyan said that the share of agriculture lending makes AMD 30bln in the bank’s total credit portfolio.

Gishyan added that the bank plans to increase its loan portfolio by the end of the year, including due to cooperation with other international financial organizations.

Referring to the government’s initiative to stimulate agriculture through subsidizing agricultural loans at the amount of 4%, Gishyan said that the bank will actively participate in the program to be launched soon, considering the program to be a promising one.