OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2014. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will provide a loan of 600 million Russian rubles (USD 16.5 million) to Center-Invest Bank to help it expand access to finance for small and medium enterprises in the agribusiness sector in southern Russia.

IFC’s loan will help the bank increase lending to smaller businesses in less-developed frontier regions, with a specific focus on agribusiness, helping create jobs and diversify the local economy. This new financing builds on the long-term partnership between IFC and Center-Invest Bank that began in 2002.

Vasily Vysokov, Chairman of Center-Invest Bank, said: “We are grateful for IFC’s long-term financial support and valuable advice, which helps us extend much-needed finance to agribusiness companies. We look forward to further successful cooperation with IFC.”

Since 2002, IFC has provided Center-Invest Bank with about USD 70 million in debt finance. IFC has also provided the lender with a host of targeted advisory services that helped the bank launch several pioneering financial products focused on energy efficiency.

Tomasz Telma, IFC Director for Europe and Central Asia, said: “Long-term partnerships with regional banks such as Center-Invest Bank allow us to channel finance to small and medium sized enterprises and contribute to the creation of jobs and the diversification of local economies in Russia’s regions.”

Russia became a member and shareholder of IFC in 1993. Since then, IFC has invested more than USD 11 billion in the country, including USD 3.3 billion in syndicated loans and other forms of mobilizations, and has been involved in 294 projects across a variety of sectors. IFC’s investment portfolio in Russia stands at USD 2.2 billion.