BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 20. Uzbekistan became the leading funding recipient of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2022, Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Managing Director for Central Asia, told Trend.
According to her, the country shows this record for the third year running, with $900 million in 26 projects in sectors ranging from renewable energy to banking over the last year.
"The Bank facilitated the first plenary session of the Uzbekistan Foreign Investors’ Council, which will serve as a platform for dialogue between foreign investors and the authorities to help shape further economic reforms," she said.
Hargitai pointed out that, in 2022, the EBRD arranged two syndicated loans collectively worth $520 million to help construct and put into operation two wind power plants with a total installed capacity of 1 GW in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan.
"Outside the energy sector the EBRD extended long-term sovereign loans collectively worth up to $120 million for the regional utility companies responsible for solid waste management in Khorezm and Karakalpakstan," the managing director added.
The current loan portfolio of the EBRD projects in Uzbekistan is estimated at 2.2 billion euros. Bank’s loan portfolio is calculated for the implementation of 69 projects. The major part of the investment portfolio (72 percent or 1.6 billion euros) focuses on sustainable infrastructure, 19 percent (428 million euros) – on financial institutions, and 9 percent (199 million euros) – on industry, commerce, and agribusiness.
Meanwhile, according to Hargitai, in 2022, the EBRD invested $1.5 billion (1.4 billion euros) through 79 projects in Central Asia. At the same time, 66 percent of these projects were green.