Kazakhstan, March 18 -- The European Bank for reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Kazakhstan's major private lender Bank CenterCredit (BCC) have agreed to launch a €18 million supply-chain finance (also known as reverse factoring) framework, under which the EBRD will share half of the risk on supplier financing that BCC provides.The first operation under the framework, in which the EBRD will participate on an unfunded basis and the BCC will act as administrator, will support local suppliers of Air Astana, Kazakhstan's flagship carrier and an EBRD investee company.The proceeds of the five-year, reverse-factoring facility will be used to provide Air Astana's selected suppliers with early payment for their invoices, at a discount, ...