KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is mulling opportunities of developing crediting and investing in Ukraine in hryvnias, EBRD Director for Ukraine Sevki Acuner has said.
He said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday that one of the bank’s goals is to expand financing in the national currency. The banking system now has much hryvnia liquidity, while crediting remains weak, he said. The role of the EBRD is to provide for the channel for injecting liquidity to the market, he said.
Acuner said that the EBRD is holding negotiations both with banking groups and corporate clients. In addition, it is planned to cooperate with municipal enterprises.
He said that the scale of the bank’s transactions in this segment would depend on development of the Ukrainian economy.
The bank has various options for raising hryvnia liquidity – via partners or via the issue of hryvnia-pegged bonds. The bank is preparing for this, but the bank needs the conditions on the market for realizing it, Acuner said.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the bank’s operations in the country in 1993, its total liabilities have reached almost EUR 12.2 billion in 377 projects.
