The EBRD is to loan Tajik company ATO $350,000 to finance an investment programme to overhaul its packing facilities, modernise its processing machinery and boost its distribution network. The locally-owned edible oil producer operates in the south of the country and distributes its products through rented trucks.

The money will go towards funding a new packaging unit at the plant and improving its technological processes, said the bank. It will also help complete the renovation of industrial and administration buildings at a recently purchased site.

The company will also be able to buy eight trucks and a small warehouse in the Dushanbe area of the country in order to allow it to improve its distribution network.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $1.7m. As well as providing some of the finance itself, the firm has also taken out a parallel loan with the Eskhata Bank in Tajikistan. The co-financing package is the first one the EBRD has carried out in the country.

“The project will enable ATO to start bottling its production and sell it under its brand name, boosting the competition in the edible oil sector in Tajikistan,” said Ulf Hindstrom, head of EBRD operations in Tajikistan. “

The EBRD has committed almost $200 million to the Tajik economy through various projects in the corporate, financial, energy and infrastructure sectors.