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 €48 million in donor funds.
Republic of Korea and the EBRD: at a glance
€48mn donor funds supporting EBRD operations
1% capital share
€1.67bn 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 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 increasingly becoming an important source for FDI into the EBRD region as Korean companies are actively looking at the EBRD region.
The value of joint Korea-EBRD investment stood at €1.67 billion as of end of February 2023. EBRD finance accounted for €970.4 million, and Korean investment accounted for €699.1 million.
The joint investment has been important across the EBRD’s region in various countries: Türkiye, Hungary, Romania and regional projects.
Broken down by industry, the joint nvestment has been in the following sectors: 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 the countries where we invest to foreign confirming banks. Since inception, the TFP has supported 446 export and import transactions for Korean companies for a total € 589.87 million, for transactions which were initiated by banks in the EBRD countries of operation and confirmed by banks in both Republic of Korea and abroad. Eleven Korean banks and branches of banks have joined the programme as Confirming Banks (all figures as of December 2022).
From 2018 to 2022, entities from Korea won 49 procurement and consultancy contracts worth €170.2 million.
