Bancherul - BANCI / ENGLISH / EBRD and OTP Bank promote energy efficiency in Romania’s industry

The EBRD is continuing to support private industrial companies in Romania in their drive to improve energy efficiency with a new €10 million loan to OTP Bank Romania to finance sustainable energy projects undertaken by local businesses, said the two banks in a press release.

Extended under the EU/EBRD Energy Efficiency Financing Facility framework*, the credit line will be used to finance energy efficiency investments by Romanian companies with long-term loans worth up to €2.5 million each. The project will enable the private industrial sector to maximise energy savings and to improve its overall competitiveness.

The EBRD finance will be complemented by grant funding from the European Union to support a technical assistance programme and targeted incentive payments for sub-borrowers to promote sustainable energy investments.

“The project will have a positive impact on the climate change mitigation efforts in Romania, providing access to long-term financing for the local industrial sector and encouraging further sustainable energy improvements in private companies that will make them more competitive and help them mitigate the impact of rising energy prices,” said Claudia Pendred, EBRD Director for Romania.

“This partnership is the next logical step in transforming the energy business climate into an efficient one. We are proud to be a part of this process that will have visible long term effects and will allow our industry to become aligned to EU standards and also to improve its competitiveness. This initiative is a clear proof of our increasing role in the EU business community. We see a huge future potential in the energy and energy efficiency business in Romania and consider that this will be one of the factors that will help Romania to get out of the crisis and contribute to its long-term stable growth”, said László Diósi, CEO, OTP Bank Romania.

Since the beginning of its operations in Romania, the EBRD has committed over €4.8 billion in various sectors of the country’s economy, which attracted additional investment of €9 billion.