Almaty, 28 October 2011. Today the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is holding the first Eurasian Festival in Almaty. Its participants representing the mass media of all the Bank’s six member states and Ukraine discuss the EDB’s role in Eurasian integration and its performance over five years from its establishment. The EDB management will tell journalists about the Bank’s progress in the region, primarily in its investment activities.
The Bank has achieved a lot over five years of its work. According to its audited interim financial statements for the first six months of 2011, its assets grew by over US $290 million in the period to US $2.84 billion and its equity exceeded US $1.677 billion. Year-on-year net profit almost doubled reaching US $13.7 million.
This year the Bank began to finance new large investment projects in the member states, including the Polotsk hydropower plant and the Osipovichi wagon works construction in Belarus and the development of the Elga coal deposit in Yakutia.
Kyrgyzstan joined the Bank in August 2011.
“Today the EDB is a quickly growing development bank and the manager of the EurAsEC Anti-crisis Fund. The EDB comprises six member states, about 300 employees, over 1.5 billion dollars of charter capital, over 40 investment projects at different stages of fulfilment, and more than three billion dollars in investment portfolio,” said Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board.
In the third quarter, the Bank’s investment portfolio was enhanced by five projects for a total of US $161.2 million. These include:
- Pre-export financing of grain production and purchase in Kazakhstan (with Ivolga Holding as borrower);
- Financing the reconstruction of a chemical plant supplying its products for Kazakhstan’s nuclear sector (with Kazatomprom Sulphuric Acid Plant as borrower);
- Cub financing of Paritetbank, Belarus;
- Syndicated Islamic financing of Ak Bars Bank, Russia; and
- Loan to Kazexportastyk, Kazakhstan, for optimising its balance structure in the run to its IPO.
In October the Bank launched another large investment project — the development of gold production in Kazakhstan by Altynalmas. The EDB will provide a long-term loan of about US $100 million.
As at 1 October 2011, the Bank’s investment portfolio totalled US $2.522 billion and on-balance-sheet portfolio US $1.344 billion, an increase of US $313 million (14%) and US $280 million (26%) respectively on 1 January 2011.
“We are an integration bank and we fulfil our mission using special instruments,” said Igor Finogenov. “The EDB is primarily a project finance bank which helps expand mutual trade and mutual investment.”
Today the Bank’s investment portfolio can generate mutual trade flows worth over US $958 million a year. The increase in mutual investment backed by the Bank’s projects exceeds US $1.018 billion.
“The EDB’s new strategy for 2011-2013, the strategy of growth, aims at achieving both integration and socioeconomic effects of projects. We plan to take part in long-term investment programmes and projects to ensure the economic development of the Bank’s member states and deepen trade and economic cooperation between them. We also plan to expand our activities both geographically and through the diversification of the financial instruments we offer,” added the head of the EDB. “The Bank’s activities will also be aimed at assisting the member states in overcoming the consequences of the global financial crisis and at creating conditions for their sustainable economic development.”
