09:10, 26 января 2024, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Tatyana KUDRYAVTSEVA
In 2023, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invested €102 million in 22 projects in Kyrgyzstan. The bank’s representative office in the Kyrgyz Republic provided such data.
It is noted that this is the largest volume of annual EBRD investment in the country for more than a five-year period. At the same time, 67 percent of projects were signed with private sector companies and almost 40 percent of investments were «green».
«The bank’s funds were used to create inclusive employment opportunities, promote entrepreneurial initiative and implement climate-resilient technologies,» the statement says.
The EBRD continued to implement its flagship programmes, such as the Green Economy Facility, which targets environmentally friendly and innovative solutions, and Green Cities, which helps address environmental challenges and stimulates investment in municipal infrastructure. The Bank addressed issues of youth entrepreneurship and employment in Central Asia and Kyrgyzstan by launching a seven-year Youth in Business program.
The EBRD has allocated new funds to support the modernization of water supply systems in Batken and Jalal-Abad regions. The republic received a loan to modernize a 30-kilometer section of the ring road around Issyk-Kul lake.
«The resumption of cooperation between the bank and the energy sector of the Kyrgyz Republic made it possible to sign projects aimed at increasing the country’s resilience to climate change. These included loans to improve the reliability of the national electricity transmission and distribution network and to modernize the Lebedinovskaya hydroelectric station — the largest investment in the hydropower sector in the past 20 years. Last year, the EBRD completed a project to construct a municipal solid waste landfill in Bishkek, which will bring significant environmental benefits to more than 1 million people living in the capital of Kyrgyzstan,» the EBRD concluded.