CZECH BANK OPENS VNESHTORGBANK CREDIT LINE

MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Vneshtorgbank and the Prague-based Komercni banka a.s. have signed a framework credit contract. The Komercni will open a credit line to finance commercial contracts, on which Czechia is to export commodities and services to Russia for a term of up to seven years, and to a lump ceiling 20 million US dollars. The information comes from the Vneshtorgbank press service.

The Vneshtorgbank will be entitled to contract financing at a threshold $500,000 to involve 85 per cent of the total cost of commodities and services Russia will import from Czechia.

As the preliminary agreement has it, the credit line may be urgently increased.

The instrument extends the number of Czech-based banks who are crediting the Vneshtorgbank on medium- and long-term Czech export financing, which is guaranteed by the EGAP, Czechia's national export insurers.

The Vneshtorgbank recently signed a similar contract with the Prague-based CSOB-Czecho-Slovak Trade Bank, for up to $50 million, with a term up to five years.

On the Societe Generale group of Paris, the Komercni leads Czech banking for ownership capital, $1.3 billion after the first half-year 2004, and is its country's third for assets, roughly $17.5 billion.