EBRD to invest $1 billion in Kazakhstan

business and economy

EBRD to invest $1 billion in Kazakhstan

By SRI ⋅ February 22, 2010 ⋅

(SRI) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide about $1 billion to finance projects aiming at diversifying Kazakhstan’s oil-dominated economy, the bank said last week.

In a memorandum signed by the EBRD, Kazakhstan’s state investment and holding company Samruk-Kazyna, and the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Trade, the EBRD agreed to “consider providing equity and debt financing for eligible projects and […] mobilize necessary technical assistance for their implementation.”

“The EBRD aims to invest up to around $1 billion in projects to be identified in collaboration with the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Kazakh National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna,” it said in a statement.

The development bank announced earlier this month a new strategy to assist Kazakhstan in its effort to diversify its economy and develop a sustainable financial model.

The EBRD is the largest investor outside the oil and gas sector in Kazakhstan. Since the beginning of its operations, the Bank has committed over €2.4 billion in various sectors of the country’s economy, which mobilized additional investment worth more than €5 billion. The EBRD’s 2011 Annual General Meeting will be held in Astana.