London, United Kingdom – The EBRD has adopted a new strategy for Romania in which the Bank reaffirms its commitment to the country and sets out its priorities for the next three years.

In the coming period, the EBRD will focus on private sector companies, energy and infrastructure in order to support the production side of the economy and assist Romania in maximising the benefits of EU membership.

The EBRD will provide more support to local private companies in order to increase their competitiveness and support their expansion. In doing so, the Bank is prepared to assume increased risks, by providing equity capital to support the restructuring and expansion of local companies on the Romanian market and promote cross-border investments in the region. The Bank will pay particular attention to the development of businesses in the rural parts of Romania in order to promote regional integration within the country, create jobs and encourage growth of the Romanian economy.

The Bank will continue to support the energy sector, especially the rehabilitation of electricity generation. To help Romania reduce its energy intensity, the EBRD will promote energy efficiency and renewable energy projects as part of EBRD’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.

With a view to enhancing cooperation and improving trade links across the region, the Bank will provide support for improvements to Romanian infrastructure. The EBRD will help bring private sector capital into transport infrastructure projects and focus on smaller municipalities with the aim of assisting them in the utilisation of EU structural and cohesion funds.

To date, the Bank has invested more than €3.5 billion in 248 projects in Romania and has helped mobilize a further €6.5 billion from external sources resulting in total investments of over €10 billion.