The EBRD and the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB) are providing financing to the country’s leading sugar producer, Kaindy-Kant.
A loan agreement for US$ 2 million was signed today in the capital, Bishkek. The funds will provide Kaindy-Kant with working capital related to the procurement and subsequent storage, transportation and processing of sugar beet.
The cooperation with the EBRD and the EU Investment Facility for Central Asia will allow KICB to introduce innovative financing instruments (including risk-sharing and lending to medium-sized corporate firms) to provide local companies with more finance at better rates.
Established in 1963 and privatised in 1999, Kaindy-Kant is the leading sugar producer in the Kyrgyz Republic. The company operates a plant which processes sugar beet and sugar cane, and a network of sugar beet collection points in the Chui region. More than 3,500 local farmers supply sugar beet to Kaindy-Kant, which is now operating two sugar processing plants.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kyrgyz Republic was known as the “sugar beet basket of Central Asia”.
The company’s focused approach on cooperation with farmers has spurred a revival of sugar beet cultivation in the Kyrgyz Republic. In the past five years alone, sugar beet production in the Chui region has increased almost sevenfold.
Natalia Khanjenkova, EBRD Managing Director for Central Asia and Russia, said at the signing: “We are pleased to support yet another leading private enterprise in the country. Boosting Kaindy-Kant will benefit the whole economy and make it more resilient. We highly appreciate our cooperation with the European Union, and will continue working with KICB and international donors to support private sector development in the Kyrgyz Republic.”
To date, the EBRD has invested over €660 million in the economy of the Kyrgyz Republic, with a majority of investments supporting private entrepreneurship.
