The European Investment Bank Group (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank Group, including its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), have continued to deliver strong financial support for central and south-eastern Europe in a joint programme to stimulate economic growth.
The three international financial institutions (IFIs) launched their Joint IFI Action Plan for Growth for the region in late 2012, pledging to invest a total of €30 billion over a two-year period.
According to their Second Report on the Joint IFI Action Plan (325KB – PDF), launched during the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington today, each of the IFIs is well on the way to meeting its target and may substantially exceed it.
Total financing under the initiative had reached €24.8 billion by the end of 2013.
The funding is aimed at rekindling growth in the region by supporting private and public sector initiatives in infrastructure and energy, as well as in the corporate and financial sectors.
The financing constitutes a very significant part of the capital flows into the region; an important factor at a time when such flows appear to have turned negative in the course of 2013.
The report said that growth would remain anaemic in the region, with only a modest strengthening this year after a gradual recovery in 2013. Considerable downside risks remained, it said, adding that “assistance under the initiative remains vital to restoring durable growth.”
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