Nonsovereign financing for Azerbaijani projects from international financial institutions reached $185 million in the third quarter of 2026, up from $42 million a year earlier, a 4.4-fold increase.
The figures come from a Eurasian Development Bank review of investments by international financial institutions in Eurasia, Vesti Baku reported. The figure is not the same as total foreign investment and excludes sovereign borrowing.
One of the largest transactions was a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development guarantee for AccessBank with a limit of up to 75 million euros, or about $86 million. It covers as much as half of the credit risk on loans to small and medium-sized businesses.
$85 Million for Water Desalination
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank approved a $45 million loan for construction of a desalination plant using water from the Caspian Sea. The OPEC Fund provided another $40 million for the same project.
The plant’s projected capacity is about 300,000 cubic meters of water per day. It is expected to become Azerbaijan’s first large-scale desalination facility and the country’s first public-private partnership in the water sector.
The quarterly increase was driven largely by guarantees and infrastructure transactions involving the EBRD, AIIB, the OPEC Fund and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank.