EBRD invests record €11bn to combat Covid-19 pandemic
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invested last year a record €11bn in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2020 spending was administered through 411 projects which addressed the urgent needs of the 38 economies where it invests, according to a report released earlier today.
The EBRD said it also supported a record of over 2,000 trade finance transactions worth €3.3bn across 40 countries worldwide.
“Our investments were sharply higher than the year before and we also provided policy support to help the private sector through the crisis,” explained EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso.
The EBRD was the first global institution to adopt emergency measures to address the economic impact of the pandemic in March of last year.
Examples of the EBRD’s transactions included the import of medicines to Lebanon, Georgia and Jordan and the export of solar power technologies to the UK.
In addition to its own funds, the EBRD directly mobilised €1.2bn from co-investors at a time when the global economy was suffering its most severe slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Finally, the bank also continued to support the private sector, which accounted for 72 per cent of total EBRD investment last year.