TIRANA, Aug. 3 – London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has confirmed its intention to work together with the Albanian government to improve access to finance for agri-businesses.
The signing of a Letter of Intent by EBRD’s Head of Tirana Office, Christoph Denk and Albania’s Agriculture Minister Edmond Panariti constitutes an important step towards the launch of a new Agribusiness Support facility, said the EBRD.
“Albania has great unrealised agribusiness potential. But fragmentation, informality and limited access to finance stand in the way of realizing this potential. Together with the Albanian authorities we are working on a new Albania Agribusiness Support Facility to ease access to finance for one of the most underserved segment of the real economy,” said Christoph Denk, EBRD’s Head of Office in Tirana.
“EBRD plans to support local banks and financial institutions by providing credit lines or by sharing the risk of a loan portfolio in the agri-business sector. This will be supported by a first loss cover provided by the Government of Albania. The Letter of Intent affirms our desire to develop this product together,” he added.
Since the start of its operations in Albania, the EBRD has invested almost €1 billion in some 70 projects in various sectors of the economy.
