EBRD well placed to accelerate recent rallying of reforms, says Bank’s President.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) ‘has the tools, the skills and the experience’ to meet the challenges of the future and accelerate a recent rallying of reforms across its regions, its President said today.
The EBRD, which last month celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding, is operating in an environment which is changing faster than ever before, Sir Suma Chakrabarti told the Bank’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Business Forum.
Nevertheless, the EBRD is well placed to exert decisive influence on change in the more than 30 countries where it works, he said.
Addressing the Bank’s Board of Governors at its London headquarters, Sir Suma also hailed the EBRD’s achievements over the first quarter of a century of its existence.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has the skills, tools and the experience to meet the challenges of the future and accelerate a recent rallying of reforms in its regions, the Bank’s president Suma Chakrabarti told the opening session of the EBRD’s 25th Annual Meeting.
The EBRD will further build on its success of the last twenty-five years and its reputation ‘rests on the most solid of foundations,’ Sir Suma said.
“The EBRD has the tools, the skills and the experience to rise to the challenges confronting us“, he said.
“We can, we will, have a decisive influence on change across our regions in the years to come.”
Sir Suma identified a recent resurgence of reforms in some EBRD countries as one of the most encouraging trends of the last year.
“In the year of our 25th birthday, this was a very welcome present for us and our shareholders,” he said.
“In our most recent review of reform momentum in our countries of operations we observed a very encouraging shift.
“In a departure from the dynamic of previous years, we saw that progress in crucial sectors significantly outweighed reform reversals.
“Several countries had taken important steps towards reforming the power and energy and infrastructure sectors and towards strengthening frameworks for markets.”
Turning to the future, Sir Suma highlighted the ever faster pace of change unfolding in the 36 countries where the EBRD invests.
“The Bank is now responding to more varied challenges, and faster, than at any time in its history,” he said.
Geopolitical uncertainty and sluggish growth in emerging markets would continue to weigh on the economies of EBRD countries, Sir Suma said. And the difficult environment extended into other fields as well.
“Climate and environmental change, demographics, inequality and threats to social cohesion, differing views on globalisation, the free market and democracy - all these factors are likely to influence the world around us, often in adverse ways.”
The EBRD was set up 25 years ago to help build a new post-Cold War era in Central and Eastern Europe.
It has since invested more than €105 billion in over 4,500 projects and is now active on three continents.
