OREANDA-NEWS. August 8, 2007. Absolut Bank received second USD 5 mio tranche under USD 10 mio Loan Agreement. First USD 5 mio tranche tranche was disbursed in January this year. The agreement was signed between European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Absolut Bank on the 19th of December 2006 under EBRD’s RSBF Programme that was designed to support the development of Russian SME. The tenor of the facility is 3 years.

The RSBF programme has been run by EBRD since 1994 with financial contributions from the G-7 countries and Switzerland. The programme overall budget amounts to USD 300 mio. A cumulative total of $3.3 billion has been granted to over 350,000 small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in Russia under this programme over the last 12 years. A total of 11 Russian banks are taking part in RSBF programme, which reaches 163 cities throughout Russia.