The FINANCIAL — The EBRD has signed on December 6 three credit lines worth a total of €350 million with subsidiaries of National Bank of Greece in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia for on-lending to businesses in their respective countries.
United Bulgarian Bank will receive €150 million, Banca Romaneasca will receive €100 million, and Vojvodjanska bank will get €100 million of new funding from the EBRD.
"The EBRD financing will provide the three banks with medium term senior funding to support their funding base, diversify and extend the maturity of their liabilities and enhance their lending to the economy," EBRD says.
”The EBRD is very pleased to expand its cooperation with the subsidiaries of the National Bank of Greece in the region, as support for these banks and the real economy in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia is important to boost economic recovery. The project will help to ensure a continued flow of credit to private companies operating in these countries which is essential to foster development in difficult macro-economic conditions’, said Nick Tesseyman, EBRD Managing Director for Financial Institutions.
“NBG and EBRD have been longstanding business partners in the region investing heavily in the local economies via the banking sector; as part of the Vienna initiative, we are pleased to be collaborating with EBRD once again to reinforce business growth in these countries as their economies are recovering from the recent crisis” said Mr. Agis Leopoulos, General Manager of International activities.
This package of loans, to be provided in two equal tranches, is part of the Joint International Financial Institutions Action Plan and follows other similar facilities offered over the past 18 months to the subsidiaries of the major Western European strategic banking groups engaged in the region.
Under the Joint IFI Action Plan, unveiled in February 2009, the EBRD, the World Bank Group and the European Investment Bank (EIB) pledged to provide €24.5 billion over two years to support the economies of eastern Europe via the banking sectors.
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