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EBRD commitments up 72% in first three quarters
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development committed €1.84 billion for new loan and equity investments in 52 projects in central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States in the nine months ended 30 September, an increase of 72 per cent from the 48 projects worth €1.07 billion in the corresponding period in 2000. Gross disbursements were €1.66 billion, compared with €875 million for the same period last year.
New commitments were made across the region, including for municipal infrastructure reconstruction in Yugoslavia, an innovative commodity-backed financing programme in Russia, and electric power generation in Poland. Disbursements rose overall, and more than doubled in the advanced transition countries and in Russia.
The EBRD's profit after provisions for the nine months rose to €177.6 million from €166.0 million last year. As at 30 September, the Bank had authorised capital of €20 billion, paid-in capital and reserves of €5.6 billion and cumulative provisions on its banking portfolio of €1.1 billion.
Steven Kaempfer, Vice President, Finance, said that the Bank's operational performance for the first nine months of 2001 bodes well for the full year outcome. The EBRD's pipeline of potential new projects continues to be strong across the region and in most sectors. The Bank's profitability has benefited from higher net interest income, effective cost control and lower net provisions for possible losses. However, Mr Kaempfer said the impaired-asset recovery process which in the first half of the year prompted the release of some loan-loss provisions has now largely run its course, and that the Bank's financial results would be vulnerable to increased uncertainty in the operating environment, in particular the impact of the current global economic slowdown and volatility in capital markets as a result of recent events.
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