The objective of the GAF is twofold - it should promote economic growth of private SME / self employed persons in Azerbaijan and it should help partner banks to expand their business activities especially with regard to SME. The GAF has helped to address two key problems of Azerbaijan's economy - its high dependence on oil and gas resources and its weak financial industry. Albeit a number of banks have been founded in Azerbaijan since its independence they only catered to a small group of clients. The trust of the public into the financial industry was generally quite low; banks therefore lack (long term) funding.

By providing long term credit lines to local commercial banks the GAF is supposed to give SME access to credit. Moreover the GAF should enable partner banks to cater to SME on a long term sustainable basis.