YEREVAN, July 19. / ARKA /. Investments of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Armenia’s economy will reach $120 million by the end of this year, EBRD President, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, said today at a news conference in Yerevan.

He said that the major portion of this money will be lent to small and medium businesses.
Valeriu Razlog, head of the EBRD Yerevan office, on his side, said the same adding that that the money will be onlent to small and medium businesses by banks.

He said that the EBRD also intends to sign a number of loan agreements directly with private companies.

Razlog added that another part of these funds will be channeled into energy-saving projects.
He said this year the bank has provided $3.8 million loan to Saranist company that produces glass containers.

Today Armenian finance minister David Sargsyan and EBRD president Suma Chakrabati signed a loan agreement to improve water infrastructure in Yerevan.  Under the agreement the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a sovereign loan equivalent of €5.4 million to the Republic of Armenia, to be used to improve the water supply for the 1.1 million people living in Yerevan.

The project will be implemented by Yerevan Djur CJSC, the operator of the water system in Yerevan, and will support improvements to the city’s water network by improving the water availability and reducing the water losses. Yerevan Djur CJSC is fully owned by Veolia Environment SA of France, the world’s largest supplier of water services, with water operations in 66 countries and strong expertise in water and waste water services.

The funds will be used to rehabilitate severely deteriorated sections of the water distribution network, replacing water supply network pipes, as well as installing new water meters for households. The investments will reduce water losses, as well as operational costs, while improving the reliability of 24 hour services in all the targeted districts and water tariff collection.

In addition to EBRD financing, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is considering a loan equivalent of €5.4 million and the European Union (EU), through its Neighborhood Investment Facility (NIF), will provide grant funds of €5.5 million.

The preparation of the project has been supported by a €200,000 pre-investment Technical Cooperation (TC) grant from the Government of the Czech Republic.  Project implementation support TC grant financing will be provided by the EBRD Water Fund (€200,000) and the ETC Fund (€200,000).

“This project is important for the city of Yerevan. Reliable water supply is a fundamental need for households.” says Suma Chakrabarti, EBRD President, who signed the loan agreement in Yerevan on 19 July 2013.

The EBRD has been active in Armenia since the country’s independence and to-date has invested over €656 million through about 120 transactions. Investing in the rehabilitation of municipal infrastructure is one of the EBRD’s key priorities in Armenia. In 2012, the EBRD signed 15 projects worth a total of €94 million in Armenia. --0---