2022-2026 strategy represents a tripling of investment portfolio and project financing.
The Council of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has approved a strategy that will see it invest a total of US $10.9bn over the next five years.
The EDB will focus efforts on major investment projects such as Europe-China transport and digital connectivity, a single commodity distribution system and water and energy infrastructure across Central Asia. The strategy also includes plans to develop separate strategies for each of the EDB member countries and will expand project operations in its minority countries, with aggregate investment in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan reaching $500m.
Another priority will be to develop digital competence and infrastructure to build the Single Digital Space for the central Asian region. To achieve that, the EDB has established a fund for digital initiatives which is now considering around 20 projects to invest in. Its opening project has been the Covid-19 free travel mobile app for cross-country verification of travellers’ PCR test data.
Across all such projects, the EDB will place particular emphasis on ensuring projects support green or other social outcomes – financing new renewable energy projects and working with UN organisations on sustainability. It’s desire to grow partly reflects a rising sense that some MDBs need to be bigger to meet that wider sustainability challenge, something that the IDB has also drawn attention to recently.
If the new five-year strategy is successful, the EDB will have become a leader in structuring and arranging finance for new projects across the region by 2027 – involving national and international development institutions. To obtain an A-grade credit rating, the bank also plans to expand its membership and attract additional funds.
The proposed sums represent a huge increase in project funding. In 2020 it signed 18 new project agreements worth a combined $1.3bn. That increased its total investment portfolio to $4.4bn, significantly less than the ambitious $10.9bn of investment planned for the next five years.
