The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing €44.7m as loan to Coca-Cola Beverages Tajikistan (CCBT) for setting up a greenfield soft drink bottling plant in that country.
Aimed at cutting down on imports and raising domestic output, the loan would be utilized by Coca-Cola Beverages Tajikistan to refinance loans provided by Coca-Cola I ecek for the plant in the suburbs of Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.
The manufacturing unit will have an annual installed capacity of 100 million liters.
CCBT, owned by Coca-Cola I ecek, is a Turkish company with operations in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. A majority of its stake is held by Anadolu Efes group.
EBRD Turkey and Central Asia managing director Natalia Khanjenkova said: "The new plant in Dushanbe will have strategic significance, as it will be the first ever production facility of an international company in the entire agribusiness sector in Tajikistan.
"This foreign direct investment is especially welcome at the time when the country's economy is under strain from the regional slowdown."
The CCBT will also bank on local SMEs for distribution and local suppliers for procuring raw materials.
EBRD, which had injected €430m so far in Tajikistan, has found that though Tajik beverage market had displayed a stable growth rates recently, it had stayed underdeveloped as against Central Asia.
