EBRD President maps out strategy to put transition back on track (EBRD statement): 

EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti today unveiled plans to step up the Bank’s support for the countries where it invests, helping to re-energise their reform agenda and putting them back on a path to stronger economic growth.

Addressing the Board of Governors at the EBRD’s Annual Meeting in Tbilisi, the President said the Bank’s strategy for the next five years would ensure that the EBRD was in a position to deliver on its commitments to the region in the face of continuing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

“The EBRD can help ensure that transition stays its course, be a major investor when others hesitate, and support common goals both locally and globally,” he said.

Reforms have slowed in many EBRD countries, holding up their convergence with more advanced economies.

The Governors, who represent the EBRD’s 66 shareholders, were being asked at the Annual Meeting to endorse the Bank’s Strategic Capital Framework which assesses its capital position up until 2020 and outlines three overriding strategic priorities for the coming years.

According to those priorities, the EBRD will strengthen the resilience of the transition process, promote integration and address the global and regional challenges that face countries in three continents from Mongolia on the Chinese border to Morocco on the Mediterranean.

Sir Suma said the proposed framework confirmed that the EBRD had the necessary capital to pursue its mandate without recourse to additional funding despite difficult circumstances.

Reporting to shareholders on the Bank’s recent activities, the President said the EBRD had shown that it does many things well, but three in particular. “It delivers results. It innovates and modernises. And it faces challenges squarely and directly.”

Sir Suma added that the EBRD had responded flexibly and successfully to a difficult operating environment in 2014, a year of considerable change and disruption.

The Bank had more than doubled its investments in Ukraine and, following guidance that there should for the time being be no new projects in Russia, it stepped up activities in other countries, including Turkey, Kazakhstan and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.

As a result, the Bank had invested a total of €8.9 billion last year, an increase from 2013’s €8.5 billion.

“At a time of geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, the Bank can be a bridge-builder and integrator,” Sir Suma said.

In his address, the President paid tribute to the Annual Meeting’s Georgian hosts, noting that in its long history Georgia had witnessed many transformations but demonstrated extraordinary resilience and continuity.

“To judge by the quality of Georgia’s transition towards a market economy over the past 25 years, this is a country that pursues a long-term vision with great determination,” he said. There was still more to do but Georgia could be proud of the results so far."