Economic Growth
Financial Markets
 $4.75 Million Co-Financing MOU to Advance Financial Sector Reforms
On November 25, 2008, USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Henrietta Fore and National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA) Chairman Elman Rustamov signed a landmark $4.75 million co-financing agreement... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Central Bank of Russia Studies U.S. Practices
On November 17-21, 2008, 12 representatives from the cash management, payments, and accounting departments of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) took part in a study tour to New York and Washington, DC... Read More ...
Related Items: Russia, Financial Markets
 Towards Efficient Enforcement by Professional Officers
Investors, especially in these times of global economic uncertainty, look for a reliable legal system and a stable economy that can provide them full security when it comes to collecting their claims... Read More ...
Related Items: Serbia, Financial Markets
 USAID Receives $27.5 Million From Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund
On November 24, 2008, the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund (BAEF) presented a ceremonial check for $27.5 million dollars to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)... Read More ...
Related Items: Bulgaria, Financial Markets
New Disclosure System Protects Ukraine’s Investors
USAID is funding the establishment of a new electronic disclosure system, including a web-site, to provide real-time access to the documents that public companies are required to file with the Ukrainian Securities and Stock Market State Commission (SSMSC)... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Access to Mortgage Credit Expands in Ukraine
New mortgage launches by banks and a trained cadre of industry professionals will help Ukrainians buy new, comfortable houses and improve living conditions... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
Ukraine Central Securities Depository Under Development
The idea of setting up a Central Securities Depository (CSD) in Ukraine is finally becoming a reality. Capital market players agree that the lack of such an entity is one of the most crucial deficiencies of the local capital markets... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Pensions and Capital Markets: Engines for Ukraine’s Economy
An aging population not only affects families that must care for their elderly parents and grandparents, it is a burden on an entire economy... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 U.S. Supports Strengthening Azerbaijan Bank SME Services
USAID recently announced that its Financial Sector Stability Program (FSSP), implemented by Bankworld Inc., will now provide technical advisory and training services to local Azerbaijan commercial banks... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Top Reformer Looks to Develop Microfinance Sector
Driven by the growth of oil and gas revenues, Azerbaijan’s economy has experienced one of the world’s highest growth rates, contributing to a notable decline in its poverty rates... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Micro-Lending Supports Nearly 800 Roma Entrepreneurs
On May 30, 2008, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), microfinance institutions USTOI and Mikrofond, and USAID officially closed the Inclusive Business Development of Roma Communities Project... Read More ...
Related Items: Bulgaria, Financial Markets
 Strengthening Armenia’s Housing Finance Sector
Supported by favorable macroeconomic conditions, the mortgage market in Armenia has started to develop during recent years. However, it remains very small and mainly serves the more affluent population in the capital city of Yerevan... Read More ...
Related Items: Armenia, Financial Markets
 USAID, Azerbaijan Officials Partner on Food Security Concerns
The escalating cost of wheat imports in 2007—a year of international shortages—has reignited official attention to food security in Azerbaijan... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Informal Microfinance Group Becomes “Network of the Year”
The Azerbaijan Micro-finance Association (AMFA) was born in December 2001, following the the country’s first microfinance conference... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 USAID-Supported Seminar Heightens Awareness of Inflation Issues
As part of USAID’s Alternative Inflation Methodology Development project, the Economic Research Center (ERC)—a respected Azeri economic think-tank—held a widely publicized seminar on August 16, 2007... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 USAID Enables Nachala to Expand Micro-Lending
On July 26, USAID signed a four-year portable guarantee agreement with the micro-lending cooperative Nachala. The guarantee agreement will enable Nachala to seek financing from local and international financial institutions on favorable conditions... Read More ...
Related Items: Bulgaria, Financial Markets
 American Volunteers Boost Rural Lending in Ukraine
Ukraine’s growing number of private farmers and small-plot holders face difficulties accessing credit to start or expand their farming businesses. Most commercial banks avoid lending to small agricultural enterprises due to their inability to provide collateral... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Ukraine Creates Secondary Mortgage Market
Experts view the creation of a secondary mortgage market to be a major objective for development of Ukraine’s financial system. The successful placement of Ukrgazbank’s pilot mortgage covered bond... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Credit Bureaus Push Market Development in Ukraine
With the Ukrainian economy booming, income levels rising and the banking sector becoming more advanced, more and more Ukrainians are taking bank loans to buy a house or start a business... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 USAID Aims to Increase Transparency, Access to Capital in Azerbaijan
Use of internationally recognized ratings would increase access to commercial capital needed to grow small and medium enterprises, a critical component of Azerbaijan’s sustained economic growth... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Minivans Deliver Microcredit to Bulgaria’s Remote Regions
On June 19, Thomas Fleetwood Mefford, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, inaugurated the first “mobile” branches of the Nachala microfinance institution at a ceremony in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria... Read More ...
Related Items: Bulgaria, Financial Market
 Azerbaijan Credit Union Leaders Visit the U.S.
The chiefs of five leading Azerbaijan credit unions and the director of the Azerbaijan Credit Union Association (AKIA) participated in a two-week U.S. study tour designed to help them consider ways of developing the institutional capacity of credit unions back home... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Association Develops Additional Safeguards for Credit Unions
In February, the Credit Unions Association of Uzbekistan, supported by USAID’s Savings and Credit Unions Development project, officially announced a launch of a deposit guarantee system, titled the “Alyans Garant” Stabilization Fund... Read More ...
Related Items: Uzbekistan, Financial Markets
 Ukraine Enters the Covered Bond Market
Experts view the creation of the secondary mortgage market to be a major objective for development of Ukraine’s financial system. The successful placement of Ukrgazbank’s pilot mortgage covered bond... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Azerbaijan Government Interested in Norwegian Experience
The USAID-supported Public Investment Policy Project, in close collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in Baku and the World Learning Institute (WLI), brought a delegation of senior officials from the Government of Azerbaijan to Norway... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 Monitoring Competition in Croatia’s Banking Sector
As soon as Tanja Ruzic assumed the role of Lead Regulator for Market Competition at the Croatian National Bank (CNB), she turned to USAID for assistance. Up until 2003, market competition in Croatia’s financial sector... Read More ...
Related Items: Croatia, Financial Markets
 Reducing IT Risks in Croatian Banks
In March 2002, the Croatian National Bank (CNB) and the wider public in the country realized how vulnerable commercial banks are to information technology (IT) security flaws: it had just been discovered... Read More ...
Related Items: Croatia, Financial Markets
 Attracting Investments to Azerbaijan’s Microfinance Sector
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent one of the most viable opportunities to grow and diversify the economy in Azerbaijan. However, SME growth potential is severely limited by a lack of access to finance and an underdeveloped and undercapitalized banking sector... Read More ...
Related Items: Azerbaijan, Financial Markets
 USAID Seeks to Strengthen Partnership with Montenegro
In January, USAID Deputy Assistant Adminstrator for Europe and Eurasia Thomas Fleetwood Mefford and Director of the Office of European Country Affairs Marilynn Schmidt met with Montenegro’s Minister of Finance Igor Lukšić in Podgorica... Read More ...
Related Items: Montenegro, Financial Markets
 Providing the Means for Private Entrepreneurship
Strolling past the large number of shops and restaurants in downtown Kyiv, one can’t help but be amazed at how business has boomed in the last couple years... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 USAID-supported Association Helps Change Microfinance Legislation
Starting in July 2006, the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI), representing 11 microfinance institutions, including USAID-supported Bai Tushum, Frontiers, and FINCA, have cooperated with Kyrgyzstan’s National Bank... Read More ...
Related Items: Kyrgyzstan, Financial Markets
Ukraine Develops Non-State Pension Funds
Seeking to become a member of the world community, Ukraine has been adopting successful practices of developed economies first evidenced by the passage of the “On Non-State Pension Provision” law in 2004... Read More ...
Related Items: Ukraine, Financial Markets
 Uzbekistan’s Credit Unions Continue To Grow
As of March 31, the 18 USAID-supported credit unions reported 8 billion Uzbek Soums (approximately US $6.6 million) in assets. Their deposits and share payments total 6.75 billion Soums... Read More ...
Related Items: Uzbekistan, Financial Markets
 Bosnia-Herzegovina Banking System Receives Upgrade
Nearly every citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina has a horror story to tell about losing their bank savings at the start of the war... Read More ...
Related Items: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Financial Markets
 Metro Cash & Carry Partnering with Moldovan Bank
Moldova’s economic growth over the past five years has improved quality of life for its citizens. Nonetheless, many have been unable to benefit fully from the exciting opportunities created by the new market-driven economy... Read More ...
Related Items: Moldova, Financial Markets
Kosovo Property Tax System Established – and Growing
The property tax is one of the most important levies introduced in Kosovo today, providing local municipalities with revenues for improving infrastructure and community services, and meeting financial obligations... Read More ...
Related Items: Kosovo, Financial Markets
 Fradkov Says Home Mortgage System is a “Top Priority”
At a plenary session of the Russian Duma on February 9, 2005, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announced that further development and enhancement of the home mortgage system is one of the Russian Government’s top priorities... Read More ...
Related Items: Russia, Financial Markets
 Micro-Credit Loan Program Featured on BBC World
Three clients of the Servicing Micro-Entrepreneurs in Albania program, implemented by Opportunity International and its established Albanian Institution, PSHM, were interviewed and told their story... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Financial Markets
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