By Olga Aristeidou
The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, is visiting Greece from 7 to 9 April for high-level meetings with the government and clients.
During her trip, President Renaud-Basso will meet the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis; the Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis; the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Yannis Tsakiris; the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, as well as representatives of the corporate and banking sectors.
The EBRD President will also speak at the Delphi Economic Forum on Friday 8 April, where she will meet with European Commissioners Margaritis Schinas and Kadri Simson, among others.
Ahead of the trip, President Renaud-Basso said: “The EBRD has been investing in Greece since 2015 and this visit will be an opportunity to highlight the results we achieved in partnership with the country, as well as to reiterate the EBRD’s continuous strong support for Greece’s ambitious green energy transition agenda, its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of NextGenerationEU. It also allows me to talk about the impact of the war on Ukraine on the global, national and regional economy, as well as about our support for Ukraine and other countries affected by the war.”
The EBRD invested €838 million(US$913.9million) in a record 20 projects in Greece in 2021, up from €797 million in 17 projects in 2020. This put Greece in the EBRD’s top five countries of investment last year.
Recent highlights include investments in green and sustainability-linked bond issues, such as those by Mytilineos, Noval Property, Public Power Corporation and GEK TERNA; an investment of €75 million in PPC’s share-capital increase; €25 million to Viva Wallet; a €50 million loan to Cepal Hellas to support the growth of the non-performing loan servicing company; and a €50 million investment in the debut Eurobond issue of PeopleCert Group.
The EBRD is working with the Greek authorities on implementing the country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, part of the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, and on deploying the funding to the Greek economy.
The EBRD started operating in Greece on a temporary basis in 2015 to support the country’s economic recovery. To date, the Bank has invested more than €5.6 billion in 92 projects in the corporate, financial, energy and infrastructure sectors of the Greek economy.
