This project – Open Joint-Stock Company Eskhata Bank (Eskhata Bank or the Bank) – is part of IFC's Central Asia Micro and Small Enterprise Facility (the Facility), comprising of individual credit lines to selected partner banks for on-lending to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) through specialized micro and small business finance windows created at the partner banks’ level for this purpose. Within the framework of the facility, IFC will, in close collaboration with EBRD, make available up to $45 million for lending (in the form of credit lines) to selected local banks for onlending to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Eskhata Bank, a Tajik commercial bank with approximately 4% of the banking system’s total assets in Tajikistan, has been selected as a partner bank for the Facility. It was registered as a commercial bank on November 16, 1993 following the issue of a General License for banking operations by the National Bank of Tajikistan. Eskhata Bank has obtained licenses for conducting all types of banking operations, including foreign currency dealings. The main objective for the establishment of the Bank was to provide private companies and individuals (mostly in the cotton and agribusiness sectors) with access to credit and with a range of diversified banking services. The objective of this project is to expand the frontier of finance by extending downward the range of market segments served by Eskhata Bank. Thus, the IFC credit line will increase the availability of sustained credit to creditworthy MSEs, while at the same time building up the lending capacity and skill base of Eskhata Bank.