Armenia to subscribe to 7,136 more Black Sea Trade and Development Bank shares worth €8.2 million and keep its 1.01% stake
Armenia will subscribe to an additional 7,136 shares of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) with a total value of €8.21 million and keep its 1.01% stake in the bank’s capital. Armenia’s Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan presented the draft decision at the government session on November 12.
The draft covers Armenia’s participation in the second increase of the bank’s capital, approved by Resolution No. 220 of the BSTDB Board of Governors on May 21, 2024. Armenia voted in favour. The increase totals €816.54 million, or about 710 thousand shares of €1,150 each. Armenia currently holds 20 thousand shares with subscribed capital of €23 million. After the new subscription it will hold 27.1 thousand shares with subscribed capital of €31.21 million.
The full amount is not payable at once. For 30% of the sum, €2.46 million, a non-interest-bearing promissory note will be issued by the end of 2026 and redeemed in eight equal instalments in 2027–2034, or €307.7 thousand a year. The remaining 70%, €5.74 million, is callable capital, payable only on demand. According to the draft’s rationale, the annual instalments are included in the 2027–2029 medium-term expenditure framework.
The decision matters first to the state as a shareholder, which keeps its stake and voting weight. It also matters to the private sector and to financial institutions that use the bank’s funding. The minister said Armenia has been a founding member since 1998 and that over these years the bank has provided about €400 million in trade and project financing to the country’s private sector. The bank’s current loan portfolio is about €1.5 billion, of which programmes approved in Armenia account for about €120 million and financing actually extended for about €84 million. According to BSTDB, as of September 30, 2026 it had approved 51 operations for Armenia worth €430.1 million, signed 49 worth €382.9 million and disbursed €399.8 million.
“Although Armenia’s share in the bank’s capital is only 1.01 percent, the volume of financing for programmes implemented in our country significantly exceeds the relative weight of that participation,” Hovhannisyan noted.
Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, who chaired the session, called the bank a good partner but proposed discussing, as a strategic matter, investments made in drams. He said lending resources alone are not enough for Armenia, as a shareholder, to remain “in observer status”, and that under a development mandate the currency of long-term financing and equity participation come to the fore. Asked by the deputy prime minister whether the bank takes part in trading Armenia’s government bonds, the minister replied that it does not. The discussion on dram financing and hedging is covered in a separate article by BusinessDaily.am.
The practical takeaway for business: the Armenian projects shown on the bank’s website are in the financial institutions sector, meaning BSTDB resources reach companies through the bank’s partner financial institutions. For the budget, the obligation is €307.7 thousand a year starting in 2027. According to the rationale, member states must complete their domestic procedures by December 31, 2026. The deputy prime minister put the draft to a vote, and participants raised no objections.
BSTDB was established by an agreement of June 30, 1994. According to the bank’s statement of August 3, 2026, S&P Global Ratings upgraded BSTDB’s long-term rating to BBB+ from BBB with a stable outlook, while Moody’s Ratings affirmed its Baa2 rating and revised the outlook to positive from stable.
