The Economic Outlook for Countries in ERBD regions and the Factoring Industry

I am a vigorous reader of the information authored and published online by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development “EBRD”, as it is a leading force in SME support and development via investments across three continents.

In case you are not familiar with the ERBD, I have reproduced selected parts of their current website, www.ebrd.com below.  

“The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or EBRD was established to help build a new, post-Cold War era in Central and Eastern Europe. It has since played a historic role and gained unique expertise in fostering change in the region - and beyond - investing €170 billion in more than 6,400 projects.

The EBRD is committed to furthering progress towards ‘market-oriented economies and the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative’. This has been its guiding principle since its creation at the beginning of the 1990s and, new challenges and the welcoming of new countries to the EBRD world notwithstanding, will continue to be its mission in years to come.

The EBRD was set up in haste to meet the challenge of an extraordinary moment in Europe’s history, the collapse of communism in its East. In fact, a mere 18 months elapsed between the first mooting of the idea of a European development bank, by President François Mitterrand of France, in October 1989 and its opening for business with headquarters in London in April 1991.

Urgency and the ability to respond to momentous events swiftly and decisively, whether it be the end of the Soviet Union, financial crises, the ‘Arab Uprising,' the coronavirus pandemic or the war on Ukraine have been among the EBRD’s hallmarks from the start.

During the frenetic years of the early 1990s the EBRD’s emphasis on the private sector as the main driver for change in Central and Eastern Europe was vindicated many times over. This was the period that established the EBRD’s reputation as an expert on transition to the open market.

It was heavily involved in areas such as banking systems reform, the liberalization of prices, privatization (legalization and policy dialogue) and the creation of proper legal frameworks for property rights, all vital ingredients for change.

This period also witnessed the start of the EBRD's work to help safeguard and transform the site of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and its involvement in nuclear safety elsewhere as well.

The year was 1991, the date 15 April, the day the EBRD opened its doors for business for the first time.

Reforms were supported by sound advice, training and technical expertise, and supplemented by major investments in the private and public sectors. With domestic capital on its own insufficient to finance transition, the EBRD helped to bring in external capital from both private and public sources.

Such experience has stood the EBRD in good stead when it has expanded its original region of operations - four times already - into new countries such as Mongolia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kosovo, Cyprus, Greece and Lebanon.

It is currently active in more than thirty-five countries from central Europe to central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean, plus the West Bank and Gaza.

The EBRD serves the interests of all its shareholders - 71 countries from five continents plus the European Union and the European Investment Bank - not just those countries which receive its investments (a record €13.1 billion in 2022). At the same time, the number of EBRD shareholders is still increasing; recent new members include China, India, San Marino, Libya, United Arab Emirates and Algeria. Indeed, the EBRD is one of only two major multilateral development banks currently expanding its shareholder base.

However, as many shareholders the EBRD has, we all stand to gain from the EBRD regions' closer and deeper integration into the global economy and their economies’ continued progress on their transition journeys. Today, based in its new headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf, the Bank is doing more than ever before - across three continents - to help them on their way.”

Source: ERBD website, www.erbd.com