EBRD has signed investment projects worth a total of 127 million euro in Romania since the beginning of the year, according to a release of the financial institution.

“In Romania, the EBRD is a major investor and focuses on financing infrastructure, increasing productivity and consolidating the financial sector. To date, the EBRD has invested almost nine billion euros in the country’s economy, and 76% of these investments have gone to the private sector. Since the beginning of this year, the EBRD has signed investment projects worth a total of 127 million euro in Romania, after last year it offered a financing of 340 million euro for the Romanian economy,” say EBRD officials.

At the same time, the EBRD has invested 1.3 billion euros ($ 1.5 billion) in the Western Balkans in 2020 and will reach the same amount in 2021, said Pierre Heilbronn, vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), according to Reuters.

Heilbronn told Reuters that 2020 was an unusual year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the financial institution to invest in previously approved projects, but also to support political change in the six Western Balkan countries in which it is located.

For the past nearly three decades, the EBRD has supported Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – all hoping to join the European Union – to adjust their economies to meet EU standards, writes Agerpres.

Although infrastructure investments remain a priority, the EBRD is becoming increasingly involved in helping the region, which is dependent on coal-fired energy, make the transition to green energy, Heilbronn said. He warned that public money will not be enough and private investors must be mobilized.

“One of the goals of my visit to the Western Balkans is to push the green agenda,” Heilbronn said.

With China investing heavily in the region, especially in infrastructure and energy, Heilbronn explained that the EBRD is concerned when investments do not meet sustainability criteria and do not lead to local job creation.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was established in 1991 to invest in the former communist bloc states and help them make the transition to a market economy. The EBRD currently invests in 38 economies in Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.