The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) supported Armenia’s economy in 2021 with record investment of approximately €175 million for projects in banking, energy and municipal transport.

Investment in Armenia was increased further, with a focus on green, inclusive and resilient recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The private sector accounted for approximately 90 per cent of the EBRD’s total investment in Armenia in 2021, and €106 million of this total investment was under the EBRD’s Green Economy Transition (GET) approach.

“After a record investment of approximately €160 million in Armenia in 2020, we scaled things up in 2021, delivering more than €170 million. We work closely with the European Union (EU) in Armenia and we thank our EU partners for this strategically important partnership,” Dimitri Gvindadze, EBRD Head of Armenia, said.

The EBRD maintained its support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing credit lines to partner banks in Armenia who then on-lend to businesses to improve competitiveness, energy efficiency, economic resilience and inclusion.

The credit lines are accompanied by grants from our donor partners, the European Union, SIDA and the Green Climate Fund. Keeping vital trade flows going, the EBRD supported close to €50 million in trade finance transactions in Armenia, involving eight local partner banks, under its Trade Facilitation Programme.

Continuing to work with its long-standing client Electric Networks of Armenia, the bank helped the company to modernise Armenia’s power supply system, with projects such as strengthening the electricity distribution infrastructure in Gyumri and Yerevan.

The EBRD also supported the city of Yerevan’s plan to acquire modern compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. The project received significant grant funding from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P).

As well as financing, the EBRD provided business advice to local SMEs by implementing 80 advisory and consultancy projects, 3 international advisory activities and 10 market-development activities and training sessions.

The Business Support Office (BSO), which is funded by the UK government and supported by the EBRD, continued its work with the Ministry of Economy on a number of business climate improvement measures.

Overall, across the EBRD’s regions, green financing last year hit a record €5.4 billion, or 51 per cent, of a total business volume of €10.4 billion.