Otopeni, Romania: People wearing protective suits spray disinfectant chemicals on the Henri Coanda International Airport to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic we rapidly increased our support for our regions. In such uncertain times we continued to be a strong and reliable partner to the countries where we invest.
The EBRD was the first International Financial Institution to approve a comprehensive series of response and recovery measures in our Solidarity Package, first unveiled on 13 March 2020. We were committed through all of our activity in 2021 to helping the 38 emerging economies where we invest to combat the pandemic’s economic impact.
We rapidly rolled out investments and disbursements to our clients and countries suffering from the economic shock of the crisis. We adapted and scaled up existing instruments and developed new initiatives to provide finance and rapid advisory and policy support to help businesses and government combat the economic and societal implications of the virus.
In an era of considerable policy uncertainty we provided governments with high quality, straightforward and usable policy advice.
The pandemic had - and will continue to have - a profound impact on all countries throughout its crisis and recovery phases.
Our new Strategic and Capital Framework 2021-25 sets out how the EBRD is committed to preserve and accelerate transition as countries seek to build back better.
We will continue to tackle deep-rooted broader challenges and leverage new opportunities to support the transition to a green, low-carbon economy, promote equality of opportunity, accelerate the digital transition, as well as strengthen economic governance. Through all our work, we are preparing our countries for the post-virus era and to safeguard everything they have achieved so far in building sustainable, fair and open market economies.
More about the Solidarity Package
- Our Resilience Framework streamlined the process for providing finance to meet the short-term liquidity and working capital needs of existing clients. (Existing clients were understood as partners who have an outstanding EBRD loan or equity investment - or who have repaid or exited since 1 January 2019.)
- We expanded financing under our Trade Facilitation Programme, keeping open the channels of commerce.
- We offered fast track restructuring for distressed clients.
- We enhanced established frameworks that can reach out especially to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates that are not yet our clients, making the real economy more resilient.
- The Vital Infrastructure Support Programme helped meet essential infrastructure requirements, including financing for working capital, stabilisation and essential public investment.
The emergency channels targeted all sectors of the economy, but especially those badly affected by the crisis, including financial institutions, SMEs and corporate sectors such as automotive and transport providers, agribusiness, and medical supplies.
The EBRD’s agility and flexibility will be ongoing features of our response, in solidarity with our countries. We continue to work closely with all our partners to develop new initiatives that meet the evolving needs of clients and countries, including across equity, local currency, and capital markets offers.
EBRD has adapted its business so that it does not compromise on the standards on which our impact and reputation rest. EBRD continues to subject its projects to all normal requirements, while maintaining our high standards of accountability. Transition impact, sound banking and additionality remain the EBRD’s key operating principles.
Contatct your local EBRD office to find out more
The video was created specially for our 2020 Annual Meeting, held 'virtually' because of the pandemic. The video features music specially written for it by the composer Sam Dinley from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
The EBRD is well-placed to support our clients, partners and the regions where we work:
1. Our capital position is strong: stronger than before the global financial crisis of 2008/9. We can continue making sound investments – even in the case of a severe scenario with a prolonged pandemic, contraction and U‐shaped recovery. Our net profits for 2019 were a record €1.4 billion, a sharp increase from €340 million the previous year.
2. The EBRD has strong relationships with the governments in the countries where it operates and it will work with the relevant authorities on how the EBRD can best respond to the crisis.
3. It has very close relationships with its clients and will help formulate the response to the crisis
4. The EBRD’s Resident Office network gives the Bank unrivalled capacity for business continuity, as our local staff originate and monitor our crisis response on the ground.
At all times we are closely following the statements of our major shareholders and coordinating with other multilateral development banks in order to exchange ideas and learn from each other's experiences.
