Switzerland is a founding member of the EBRD and an important contributor to the Bank's work.
The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) is one of the EBRD’s largest bilateral donors with cumulative volume of grants of more than €228 million for technical cooperation, investment grant co-financing, risk-sharing and guarantees.
Switzerland and the EBRD: at a glance
€249mn donor funds supporting EBRD operations
2.28% capital share
€6.92bn Switzerland-EBRD investments
SECO’s sectoral priorities include infrastructure, enterprise and financial sector development, and climate change mitigation through energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. Priority regions for Swiss bilateral funding include the early transition countries in Eastern Europe and Caucasus and Central Asia, the Western Balkans, Ukraine, and the SEMED region.
Switzerland contributes to a number of EBRD multi-donor funds, such as the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (SIF), the Small Business Impact Fund, and the Ukraine Stabilisation and Sustainable Growth Multi-Donor Account.
Switzerland is an important source of foreign direct investment in the EBRD’s countries of operations. The value of joint Swiss- EBRD investment stood at €6.92 billion as of end of December 2020. EBRD finance accounted for €3.87 billion, and Swiss investment accounted for €3.05 billion.
Switzerland-EBRD investment has been strong in regional projects, followed by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Broken down by industry, joint Switzerland-EBRD investment has been the strongest in the following areas: sustainable infrastructure, industry, commerce and agribusiness, and financial institutions.
Swiss banks are also involved in the Trade Facilitation Programme, through which the EBRD guarantees the payment of trade finance instruments issues by banks in its countries of operations to foreign confirming banks. Through the Programme, the EBRD has supported export and import transactions with Swiss companies, and over 12 Swiss banks.
From 2015 to December 2019, entities from Swiss firms won 20 contracts worth over €36.3 million.
