The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says it has set a new operational record in Central Asia by investing €2.26 billion through 121 projects in six regional economies last year – almost doubling its annual investment in Central Asia compared with 2023. It also mobilized €784 million from co-financiers, thus bringing more than €3 billion into the region’s real sector.
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were the leading recipients of the EBRD funding (€938 million and €913 million, respectively). The countries also became the fifth and sixth largest investment destinations for the Bank globally. Elsewhere in Central Asia the EBRD provided €264 million for projects in Mongolia, €88 million in Tajikistan and €52 million in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Sixty-one per cent of the Bank’s funds were used to support sustainable infrastructure projects and 24 per cent of the loans were provided to local banks for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), women and young entrepreneurs, as well as for climate resilience and resource efficiency lending. The remaining 15 per cent of loans were channeled to corporate sector clients. Fifty-eight per cent of the investments by the EBRD – the region’s largest green lender and whose operations are fully aligned with the Paris Agreement – were aimed at supporting green economy projects.
In 2024 the EBRD’s cumulative investment in Kazakhstan surpassed the €10 billion mark and reached €5 billion in Uzbekistan. Both Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic have now attracted over €1 billion from the EBRD since the beginning of operations there 30 years ago.
