Iraq becomes member in European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday that Iraq has become its 74th member.
Ghana and Senegal have also submitted applications to join the multilateral lender, according to Reuters.
Iraq initially applied to join the bank in 2018. Now that it is a shareholder, it may seek to become a beneficiary economy and get EBRD funding and policy support.
The President of the EBRD, Odile Renaud-Basso, mentioned in a statement that the bank is looking forward to starting work in Iraq and applying its expertise to developing Iraq’s economy when the time comes.
Renaud-Basso explained that top officials in the EBRD will review the applications submitted by Senegal and Ghana before approval, adding that the bank stated in October that applications from Ivory Coast and Benin had been approved.
The EBRD was founded in 1991 to make investments in the economies of former communist countries in Eastern Europe and is presently active in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.
The bank initiated a process last Wednesday allowing a four-billion-euro increase in its existing share capital of thirty billion euros, primarily to provide more help for Ukraine.
The step represents the bank’s third share capital increase in its history if the governors gave their approval.