The FINANCIAL — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is fostering energy efficiency in the residential sector of Kosovo with an additional €1 million loan to Kreditimi Rural I Kosoves (KRK), one of the strongest rural microfinance lenders in the country.
The new funding is being provided under the Kosovo Sustainable Energy Projects Framework (KoSEP) in response to growing demand for energy efficiency financing in the country.
The availability of medium and long-term funding to the private sector for energy efficiency and sustainable energy investments in the current market condition in Kosovo is limited, according to EBRD.
Through KoSEP, a €12 million facility for on-lending to small businesses and the residential sector, the EBRD is addressing this lack of supply. The facility benefits from additional donor funding provided by the New Norway Cooperation Fund and the EBRD Shareholders Special Fund.
KRK is located in Pristina but it services the entire territory of Kosovo through its 18 branches and 96 permanent staff.
Elena Petrovska, EBRD Associate Director, Head of Kosovo, said: “KoSEP was the first EBRD energy efficiency financing facility provided to financial institutions in the country. While the potential for energy savings is high across all the sectors in Kosovo, the exisiting market barriers for energy efficiency investments make financing such projects difficult. We are pleased to help overcoming these challenges together with KRK.”
Lulzim Sadrija, CEO of KRK, added: “KRK has worked very closely with KoSEP to develop our energy efficiency lending capacities. We believe that KRK is now very well positioned to continue to utilise KoSEP funds in order to further support energy efficiency projects in Kosovo”.
The EBRD began investing in Kosovo in 1999. To date, the Bank has signed 45 projects in the country with a net cumulative business volume of more than €148 million. Kosovo became an EBRD member and country of operations in December 2012.
