Bank CenterCredit JSC (Kazakhstan) informed on EBRD loan to the total amount of $50.0

/KASE, July 4, 08/ - Bank CenterCredit JSC (Almaty), the listed company of Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), provided to KASE the press release of the following content: Quotation start Almaty, 30 June 2008: JSC "Bank CenterCredit" (BCC) is raising a 5-year loan from EBRD to support the expansion and further development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kazakhstan. The $50 million credit will be on-lent to BCC clients outside the major cities Almaty and Astana to ensure easier access to finance for its regional clientele. The MSME sector is an important provider of employment and increasingly important for the Kazakh economy. The government sees the growth of small businesses as key to the sustainable development of an economy which is otherwise dominated by natural resources. The demand from local micro and small businesses for loans, especially longer term funding, is increasing. The EBRD loan will consist of two equal portions. The first portion will be for loans below $200,000, focused on the smallest businesses with an average loan size expected to be $10,000. The second portion will be used to finance loans worth the equivalent of $200,000 to $500,000, aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. This loan is granted to BCC as part of an initiative to provide more funding for micro- small- and medium-size enterprises. BCC believes that the loan will help to further promote strong positions of the Bank in this segment and ensure sustainable growth by widening its market share in Kazakhstan. Despite the significant reduction of Kazakhstani banks' access to international capital markets, granting of such loans evidences that BCC is recognized by its foreign partners as a stable financial institution with a reliable reputation and weighted policy. The loan will serve as another strong signal of EBRD's confidence in the economic development of Kazakhstan, and in BCC, in particular. Evidently, this is leap forward in encouraging more investments in the country at a given conditions of tightened liquidity for Kazakhstani banks. "Strategic support of SMEs, stable share of the Bank in this market segment, steadily increasing client base along with the high assets quality - all these factors in our view have influenced the EBRD in singling-out the Bank CenterCredit as a counterparty in this deal", - noted BCC Chairman of the Management Board Vladislav Lee. Bank CenterCredit and the EBRD have been partners since 1997 when BCC joined the EBRD Kazakhstan Small Business Programme I. Today, BCC is a universal bank focused on micro, small and medium sized enterprises as well as private individuals. It is the sixth largest commercial bank in Kazakhstan in terms of assets with a wide branch network comprising 20 branches and 188 centers of financial and retail service throughout the country. As of 1 April 2008 the assets increased to KZT 849.5 billion, equity capital grew to KZT 73 billion, deposit base for the three-month period of 2008 was up 7% to reach KZT 335.7 billion. Net income of the Bank equaled KZT 2.5 billion, showing a 100% growth compared to the first quarter of 2007. The share of SME loans in the structure of total loan portfolio of the Bank accounts for 41%. The Bank has international credit ratings from Moody's and Fitch Ratings at "Ba1"and "BB-", respectively. For additional information, please contact: Department for International Relations of Bank CenterCredit JSC, tel. 2 588 952 Quotation end [2008-07-04]