On Friday the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) signed an agreement with the leading western banks headed by Citigroup bank of the United States and Commerzbank of Germany on attraction of syndicate credit of $56m.

Syndicated credit was approved for a year with interest rate of Libor+2, said Jahangir Hajiyev, the chairman of the Managing Board of the IBA with 50.2% of stock held by the Azerbaijani government.

This spring the IBA signed an agreement on issue of mandate to Citigroup and Commerzbank for attraction of a $30m syndicated credit for the Azerbaijani bank $30 a year.

"Later during the talks in record term of 6 weeks we attracted $56m and this is the confidence shown to IBA in the international market,” Ahmet Bekche, the Director of Citigroup, told a signing ceremony.
Participants in the syndicate are 19 bank of the United States, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, France and China.

Hajiyev said that over the past few months IBA receive a credit line for $200m, in particular, an agreement was signed with Commerzbank in Berlin on 31 May 2005 on opening of a $25m credit line for financing goods export from Germany, as well as Societe General of France – 45m euro, Credit Swiss - $15m for each project.

The IBA is one of 43 world leading banks on the amount of asserts for the amount of statutory capital (over $20m), which implements around 80% of trade operations of the country.