YEREVAN. – Through consultation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a total of 1,200 projects were implemented with the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Armenia, from 2003 to 2015.

Tigran Aghabekyan, the Principal Manager, of EBRD's Advice for Small Businesses, noted the above-said at a press conference on Wednesday.

In his words, €133 million were loaned to these SMEs all through those years.

“The funding was not made by the EBRD,” added Aghabekyan. “But thanks to the EBRD consulting, the small and medium-sized enterprises were able to get funding from various credit and financial institutions.”

He noted that they have a tool to help assess the results which this cooperation has given to the SMEs, one year later.

“The implementation of program was effective in about 94 percent of cases,” stated the EBRD representative. “[After that one year,] virtually all were successful, or at least continued to work.”