CEB Target Group

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40 Members, also affiliated to
European Union
EFTA/EEA
EU Candidate Countries
EU Neighbourhood Countries
CEB Target Group
Effective Support for Enlargement
Donor Coordination Conference, Brussels, 19
October 2009
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Panel IV  Adapting Financial Instruments to
Current ChallengesAccelerating Public Investment

• Social needs in Central and Eastern Europe likely
  to rise
• Previous experience shows that the most
  vulnerable are the most affected during a crisis
• Unemployment rates will be growing, from already
  high levels in South Eastern Europe (Bosnia and
  Herzegovina gt40, "the former Yugoslav Republic
  of Macedonia" 34, Serbia 18), will lead to
  reduced personal income
• Reduced fiscal space for public programmes and
  social investments while needs are still very
  important or even higher due to the crisis a
  second wave of effects
• Assistance /Financing needed from the
  international community

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Panel IV  Adapting Financial Instruments to
Current ChallengesAccelerating Public Investment

• CEB a multilateral development bank with a
  social mandate
• CEBs job is to finance social projects, i.e.
• ? investment in social infrastructure
  housing and urban development,
• including resettlement of refugees
  and migrants, health and education,
• water and sanitation, energy
  conservation, disaster prevention
• ? job creation through providing
  credit access to SMEs for
• financing investment in
  productive equipment
• Increased activity in 2009
• ? By end-September, approved loans exceeded 2
  bn. This compares to a total of 1.9 bn in
  2008.
• Particular focus on target countries, i.e.
  Central and EasternEuropean countries, including
  SEE
• ? By end-September, 85 of disbursements went
  to target countries,
• although this ratio may turn out be
  more balanced by year-end

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Panel IV  Adapting Financial Instruments to
Current ChallengesAccelerating Public Investment

• WBIF accelerating or improving investment ?
• WBIF focuses attention on South-Eastern Europe,
  allows for better coordination, mobilises
  synergies among IFIs involved, makes grants
  available
• The antagonism of grants vs. loans is
  misleading the region needs precisely a
  combination of grants loans. Grants improve
  project quality, allow for financing projects
  that would otherwise not be bankable, thus
  strengthen the social dimension of projects
• However, coordination takes time. We need to
  ensure that procedures are handled flexibly so
  that WBIF not only improves but also accelerates
  lending to the region