EBRD president in Davos to call on Ukraine to improve governance
President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) would pay special attention to Ukraine, according to a report of the bank on its website.
"He will make a speech on the importance of reforms, and specifically improved governance, during a panel discussion on investment in Ukraine on Thursday 25 January," the bank said.
According to the report, Chakrabarti would present a message of strong support for economies of the EBRD regions following a year of record investments. EBRD financing rose to a new high of EUR 9.7 billion in 2017, from EUR 9.4 billion the previous year.
The EBRD president is expected to encourage authorities in EBRD countries to take advantage of the current economic recovery to put in place outstanding structural reforms that are needed to improve the business climate and attract more investments into EBRD economies.
As reported, the EBRD in 2017 approved projects for EUR 800 million for Ukraine, which is 37% more than a year ago.
"This is a significant rise since 2016 and a strong start for 2018. We hope to reach the indicators of 2014 and 2015, when investments exceeded EUR 1 billion," EBRD Director in Ukraine Sevki Acuner told Interfax-Ukraine.
The EBRD also provides large technical assistance to improve public and corporate governance in Ukraine in some projects.
In 2017, Ukraine became the third largest recipient of EBRD loans following Turkey, which received EUR 1.54 billion in loans, as well as Egypt with EUR 1.41 billion loans.