ADB approves technical assistance for capital market development in Azerbaijan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $225,000 in technical assistance for a capital market development program covering 43 countries, including Azerbaijan.

The funding will be provided through the ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund and is aimed at supporting efforts to strengthen capital markets across participating economies, Caliber.Az reports, citing domestic media. 

Azerbaijan received $2.529 billion in sovereign financing from the ADB between 2015 and 2024, supporting 10 projects. Regional cooperation and integration accounted for 51% of the financing, one of the highest proportions among upper-middle-income countries.

Private-sector support represented 39% of sovereign financing during the period, while 18% was allocated to climate-related initiatives and 10% to digital technology projects. The figures indicate that ADB engagement in Azerbaijan has increasingly focused on regional connectivity, private-sector development and emerging areas of economic transformation.

During the same period, the ADB approved nine nonsovereign financing projects in Azerbaijan with a combined value of $963.9 million.

Azerbaijan has been a member of the ADB since 1999. Since joining the institution, the bank has invested more than $5 billion in the country’s economy through 145 projects. Approximately $4 billion of this financing has supported the public sector, while around $1 billion has gone to private-sector projects.

Energy and transport have been the largest areas of ADB financing in Azerbaijan, receiving approximately $1.7 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.

Established in 1966 and headquartered in Manila, the ADB is a multilateral development bank with 69 shareholder countries, including 50 from the Asia-Pacific region. Its operations focus on promoting economic and social development, regional cooperation and sustainable growth across its member economies.

By Sabina Mammadli