Tbilisi - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) promised on Friday more funds for ex-Soviet countries, Central Europe, and Greece, but ruled out new investments in Russia due to Western economic sanctions over Ukraine.
"We have the potential to expand our investment levels beyond what we are currently doing and we should use this opportunity where there is real need and where there is real reform," the EBRD's President Suma Chakrabarti said during the bank's annual meeting held in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
He said the terms of EBRD's investments pledged to Greece will depend on the outcome of Athens' talks with its creditors.
"How much we can do, how many projects, what sectors we can operate in" would depend on the economic policy agreed to between the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's radical leftist government and its creditors, Chakrabarti added.
"The need (for investments) is there and that is why Greece became a country of operations for the EBRD this year," he said, adding that the bank has so far "started in a very small way."
At Athens' request, the London-based institution announced in March the launch of a five-year investment programme in Greece, without specifying the volume of funds pledged.
On Thursday, the EBRD issued its first ever economic forecast for Greece, warning the country of another "major recession" if talks fail with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union on a minimum set of reforms required to unlock the bailout loan's last tranche of 7.2 billion Euros ($8.2 billion).
It said that the Greek economy, which grew by 0.8 percent in 2014, would post zero growth this year and expand by two percent in 2016, provided the negotiations prove successful.
AFP
