BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 28. Kazakhstan's
national road operator KazAvtoZhol and a syndicate of Kazakh banks
comprising Halyk Bank, Bank CenterCredit and Eurasian Bank have
signed a credit agreement for up to $700 million, according to the
Kazakh government.


The agreement was signed during a roundtable on financing the
road sector and involving second-tier banks in infrastructure
projects.


The document provides for financing of up to $700 million to
further develop and expand the pool of investments for KazAvtoZhol
projects that previously received support from the Development Bank
of Kazakhstan (DBK).


In previous years, DBK resources were used to finance road
repair and modernization works. Under the new agreement,
cooperation will take the form of a long-term arrangement running
until 2034. Halyk Bank will act as the arranger of the syndicated
financing and as the agent bank.







Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy
Serik Zhumangarin said the agreement would help redistribute the
credit burden among financial institutions and free up part of the
DBK's credit limit to finance new priority infrastructure
projects.


"The Head of State has repeatedly emphasized the need for
second-tier banks to participate more actively in financing the
real sector of the economy and for private capital to be attracted
to major projects. Today, we are seeing a practical example of such
cooperation. It is fundamentally important that this is not about
new borrowing to build roads, but about refinancing existing
obligations to the DBK using funds from commercial banks. This will
not only expand the banking sector's participation in
infrastructure financing, but also enable the development
institution's resources to be directed toward new projects,"
Zhumangarin said.


Involving second-tier banks in road infrastructure development
will help mobilize additional domestic investment resources and
reduce the dependence of major national projects on government
financing. This mechanism is expected to create conditions for
greater participation by commercial banks in economic development
without a significant increase in budget expenditure.