Millions of people in the countries where the EBRD invests are set to benefit from the €757 million in donor finance the Bank mobilised in 2019 from the European Union (EU), global climate funds and individual governments.
These donor funds are used to support green investments, strengthen small businesses, financial institutions, and sustainable infrastructure as well as to accelerate policy reforms.
The EBRD continues to be the donor community’s trusted partner fostering sustainable development with the funds raised among donors.
Pierre Heilbronn, EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, said: “The Bank is delighted to receive yet another strong endorsement from the international donor community. It shows our operating model, which blends finance and grant instruments to support private sector investments and improve the business environment, has a big impact in advancing the global development agenda”.
The EU provided €378.5 million, or half of all donor funds, in 2019, including the Bank’s first EU guarantee worth €50 million from its External Investment Plan. The EU remains a strategic EBRD partner in the Western Balkans, the southern and eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Eastern Partnership countries as well as in EU member states. The main areas of cooperation include energy efficiency and renewable energy, municipal services, transport as well as finance and advice for small businesses.
The Green Climate Fund, the Climate Investment Funds and the Global Environment Facility cumulatively provided €194.7 million, offering strong backing for the Bank’s climate action in its regions and contributing to making 2019 the EBRD’s “greenest” year ever with 46 percent of new investment in the green economy.
Governments and other public and private entities provided €183.5 million in 2019, including funding from EBRD countries of operations (Azerbaijan and Poland), a new donor contribution from Spain and the very first one from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative.
Besides supporting investments, donors also fund technical assistance to help create a better investment climate in the Bank’s countries of operations and build governance capacity. More than 40 percent of all EBRD‘s transactions are typically supported by donors.
In addition, in 2019 the EBRD helped raise €172 million for the European Western Balkans Joint Fund and the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) Fund. These funds are managed by the Bank and are also available to other development financial institutions.
Original source: EBRD
Published on 16 January 2019
