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EBRD continues to boost trade in and out of Romania
Trade guarantee facility of US$ 5 million has been granted to Raiffeisen Zentralbank Vienna subsidiary
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development today provided US$ 5 million (€ 5.5 million) to Raiffeisenbank Romania, to promote import and export trading in south-eastern Europe's largest economy. The finance will be used to guarantee trade transactions and forms part of the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme. The Programme stimulates international trade by strengthening the ability of local banks to provide trade financing.
Salvatore Candido, the EBRD's Country Director for Romania, said that the EBRD is underpinning the country's own ability to make trade finance more widely available and thereby stimulate export and import trade markets. He said that Romania is a big economy and through its leadership can help to establish much stronger regional trade throughout south-eastern Europe in particular. He noted that this would be of great benefit to the Romanian economy.
The EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme is now active in 27 countries of central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Bank has worked with 43 individual banks, providing 515 guarantees amounting to € 400 million. The EBRD has worked with subsidiaries of the Raiffeisen Group before. The Group is a well-established presence in the EBRD's region of operations and the two institutions have already concluded eight projects together in countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Russia, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine. Mr Candido said that the EBRD was pleased to extend this cooperation to Romania.
Mr John Harris, speaking for Raiffeisenbank (Romania) S.A. expressed the bank's pleasure in signing this project with the EBRD in Romania. He said that RZB's plans for Romania are very significant, the acquisition of Banca Agricola being proof of that. "We will increase our business coverage here, and we would like to cooperate with the EBRD to make this happen", Mr Harris said.
The EBRD relaunched its € 300 million Trade Facilitation Programme in January 1999. The programme covers advance payment guarantees and other instruments in addition to letters of credit. The amount of the guarantee is up to 100 per cent of the face value of the underlying trade instrument.
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