OOO Raiffeisen Leasing Moscow

MIGA issued a $23.75 million guarantee to Raiffeisen Steiermark (RZBS) of Austria for its $25 million shareholder loan to OOO Raiffeisen Leasing, Moscow. The guarantee is for a period of five years and provides coverage against the risks of expropriation and transfer restriction

The project involves the further expansion of the company's leasing operations in the Russian Federation. The expansion project is an increase of $15 million from the RZBS's $10 million guaranteed investment in 2002. In addition to increasing the availability of funds in the Russian financial sector, the project will continue to have significant development impacts by providing medium-term lease financing and encouraging other financial institutions to improve their standards through increased competition.

The expansion of OOO Raiffeisen Leasing will create an estimated 32 jobs and provide significant training both on and off-site, thus promoting significant knowledge transfer to Russia's financial sector. Although the project will not directly contribute to export earnings, it will on-lend to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are expected to generate an estimated $6 million annually in foreign exchange earnings.