MINSK, 25 March (BelTA) – The Development Bank of Belarus has financed 3,000 projects under the small and medium-sized entrepreneurship program since 2014, Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank of Belarus Andrei Zhishkevich said in an interview to the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
According to Andrei Zhishkevich, the Development Bank is focused not only on lending under government programs. One of the basic lines of its business is to support small and medium-sized enterprises. The corresponding program was launched in 2014. “The loan portfolio has exceeded $400 million of the total lending the bank provided to its partner banks. An estimated 3,000 entrepreneurs have implemented their projects with the help of the Development Bank,” he said.
Speaking about the plans for 2019, Andrei Zhishkevich said that the Development Bank needs to help develop tools which the country does not have yet. “These are investment funds and support for venture capital financing infrastructure,” Andrei Zhishkevich said. In his opinion, the Development Bank, as a big financial institute, can make the first steps in this direction, shape a market to attract other players.
