EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso is joining finance ministers, central bank governors and heads of international organisations in Venice this weekend to participate in the G20 Meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors for discussions of the latest G7 global corporate tax plan and the G20 International Conference on Climate.
The EBRD President will share her thoughts following the Bank’s shareholders’ recent decision to align all its activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement from the end of 2022. “As the lifting of public health measures is supporting a rebound of the global economy, it is all the more important that we learn the lessons from the recent Covid-19 pandemic and draw the right conclusions”, she warned.
EBRD deepens ccoperation with UNDP
In the margins of the event in Venice the EBRD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, reaffirming their partnership. The document strengthens the organisations’ joint efforts to support environmentally sustainable recovery and development in the economies of central and eastern Europe, Central Asia, Mongolia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean.
Chernobyl storage reaches new milestone
The Donor Assembly of the Nuclear Safety Account met this week to review the progress on the completion and operation of the Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2); designed and constructed to safely process and store over 21,000 spent fuel assemblies from the Chernobyl reactors. Managed by the EBRD, the ISF-2 facility received its full operational licence in April and work to process and store the fuel commenced on 7 June 2021. This represents a major safety and project milestone in the transformation of the Chernobyl into an environmentally safe site following the 1986 nuclear accident and a demonstration of the benefits of international multilateral donor funding to support global nuclear safety.”
Dina Matta appointed EBRD Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer
The EBRD has appointed Dina Matta as its first Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer. Ms Matta will oversee the Bank’s digital transformation, as well as its move to its new London Headquarters in Canary Wharf in autumn 2022. She will be a member of the Executive Committee, the Bank’s management leadership group.
Project signings and agreements
Fuelling the coal transition in Kragujevac
Kragujevac, the fourth-largest city in Serbia, will make a big leap in its transition away from coal, thanks to an €18 million EBRD loan for the decarbonisation of the district heating system. The loan will finance the decommissioning of coal boilers in the city’s district heating system, the installation of new natural gas boilers and the remediation of an open ash-disposal site. The financing will be complemented by technical support to the district heating company to help further decarbonise the heat supply and introduce renewable energy sources.
Supporting Romania’s online retailer eMAG
The EBRD alongside Raiffeisen Bank arranged a syndicated loan package of €37.55 debt financing package for the leading Romanian online retailer eMAG. The loan is part of a larger package of €73.4 million aimed to finance the development of the company’s second state-of-the-art logistic center as well as the hi-tech automation equipment to be installed. Founded in 2000, eMAG is today the largest online retailer in Romania connecting customers, suppliers and entrepreneurs across Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.
ProCredit Ukraine to support micro enterprises
The EBRD is providing a loan equivalent to €25 million, available in hryvnia or in euros, to ProCredit Bank for on-lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Ukraine. At least 70 per cent of the funds will be dedicated to financing green technology. The funding is available under the EU4Business-EBRD credit line, which aims to increase the capacity of small businesses.
Fostering youth entrepreneurship and skills development in Egypt
The EBRD has launched a US$ 120 million Youth in Business programme for offering young entrepreneurs access to critically needed financing and technical assistance to grow their small businesses and a pilot US$ 20 million Skills in Business credit facility during a virtual event held in partnership with National Bank of Egypt (NBE).
Supporting private Ukrainian gas trader ERU Trading
With a new loan of €10 million to ERU Trading LLC, a privately owned gas trader, the EBRD is supporting competition and security of supply in the energy sector in Ukraine. The EBRD’s two-year revolving working capital facility will boost the company’s trade capacity.
Donors
EBRD and EU support packaging producer in Serbia
Being up to date with current trends requires investment in new equipment and adherence to globally recognised standards. An EBRD and EU-supported programme offers SMEs like Serbian Comex access to credit lines through local partner financial institutions to meet these goals.
EBRD in the news
EBRD Head of Greece, Andreea Moraru, spoke to the Greek business news portal Mononews about the EBRD’s work in Greece and the prospects of the country’s economy.
EBRD Head of Croatia, Victoria Zinchuk, spoke to Nacional, a business and banking magazine, about the Bank’s projects and plans in the country. She emphasized the EBRD’s preparedness to support the recovery and help Croatia with urban regeneration projects.
The EBRD Head of Kazakhstan, Agris Preimanis, spoke to the local business web portal kapital.kz about the EBRD’s activities in the country.
The EBRD Regional Head of Western Balkans, Matteo Collangeli, spoke to e-Kapija about the EBRD’s work in Serbia. He set out the plans to support the green transition by strengthening renewables and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels.
The EBRD experts for green bonds, Isabelle Laurent and Charles Smith, spoke to Intellinews. “A robust green bond from issuers that are at the lower end of investment grade or even sub-investment grade can find significant investor interest that they would not find for their ordinary issuance, and that has allowed them both to increase the tenors at which they fund, as well as see an improvement in price,” they said.
EBRD in social media
Our new video celebrated the latest safety milestone at Chernobyl.
Our Policy Paper ‘Going electric – A pathway to zero-emission buses’ is out!
We welcomed Diana Matta, our new Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer
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