A record year!
Against the backdrop of the war on Ukraine and a flourishing Green TFP, we supported a record number and volume of transactions in 2022
Last year was our busiest yet since the TFP was set up in 1999. We not only supported the highest number of transactions in a single year – 1,768 – but we also saw a record volume of €3.6 billion with 91 partner banks in 27 countries. Our contribution to total Annual Bank Investment (ABI) stood at an all-time high of 17.5 per cent.
Transactions ranged from a modest €3,500 for medical equipment imports to Egypt, to multi-million-euro intraregional deals, including wheat exports from Ukraine, . Highlights of the year included major intraregional transactions, our role in supporting food supply chains and green trade finance across the EBRD regions.
The war on Ukraine put an enormous strain on regional supply chains, with food security becoming one of the biggest global challenges. With this in mind we supported €1,080 million in trade financing for food, related commodities, fertilisers and agricultural equipment. The EBRD stepped in when commercial banks’ capacity to facilitate trade began to dry up.
The war also disrupted the planting, growing, harvesting, storage and export cycle in Ukraine, with knock-on effects on other EBRD economies, particularly those in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, which rely on food and related commodity imports.
Green trade finance also flourished, with a record volume of €421 million, up from €287.7 million in 2021. These included: export transactions, such as array cables from Greece to the United States of America and greener buses from Georgia to Yerevan in Armenia; and imports of energy-efficient street lighting from Ukraine to Georgia, and sustainably sourced forestry products from Romania to Egypt and Tunisia.
We also helped to build knowledge around the green economy, holding our first ever webinar and first face-to-face workshops on the Bank’s Paris Alignment for our clients in Armenia and Georgia.
The Green TFP was set up in 2016 to promote investments that improve sustainability and deliver environmental benefits across the economies where the EBRD invests.