The Republic of Korea is a founding member of the EBRD and an important contributor to the Bank's work.
The Republic of Korea has been an EBRD donor since 1993 and has emerged as a strong partner in recent years, contributing about €57.2 million in donor funds.
Republic of Korea and the EBRD: at a glance
€57.2mn donor funds supporting EBRD operations
1% capital share
€1.52bn Korea-EBRD investments
Through its dedicated bilateral fund at EBRD the Republic of Korea supports all EBRD countries of operation. Korea is an important contributor to the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (SIF), the EBRD Water Fund and the Small Business Impact Fund (SBIF).
Korea provides funding for a wide range of activities in various sectors, from municipal and environmental infrastructure and energy efficiency to the financial sector. Korea has been engaged in the digitalisation, development of the knowledge economy, EBRD’s Capital Markets and Local Currency Market Initiative, energy efficiency, climate change and green growth initiatives.
The Republic of Korea is an important source of foreign direct investment in the EBRD’s countries of operations.
The value of joint Korea-EBRD investment stood at €1.52 billion as of end of February 2021. EBRD finance accounted for €882.9 million, and Korean investment accounted for €637.8 million.
Korea-EBRD investment has been especially strong in Turkey, Hungary and Romania. Broken down by sector, the joint Korea-EBRD investment has been in sustainable infrastructure, industry, commerce and agribusiness and financial institutions.
Korean banks are also involved in the Trade Facilitation Programme, through which the EBRD guarantees the payment of trade finance instruments issued by banks in its countries of operations to foreign confirming banks. Through the Programme, the EBRD has supported export and import transactions of Korean banks. Of the over 800 foreign confirming banks and bank branches in the Programme, 11 are Korean.
From 2015 to December 2019, entities from Korea won five contracts worth € 153.7 million.
