EBRD boosts 2007 investments in less advanced economies

TIRANA, March 10 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development worked to build a strong private sector in Eastern Europe which will allowed it to invest in record numbers in 2007, including in small and medium sized companies in the region’s poorest countries, including Albania.
The year was also marked by ground-breaking initiatives to strengthen and develop financial markets and by projects to promote increased energy efficiency, environmental protection and public health and safety. EBRD investments in 2007 rose to 5.6 billion Euros from 4.9 billion Euros in 2006.
The Bank’s investments in the early and intermediate transition countries reached 2.7 billion Euros, 16 per cent above the 2006 level. Albania is included among the early and intermediate transition countries together with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.(Tirana Times Staff)