EBRD lends 5.5 mln euro to Moldova's Mobiasbanca

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it is lending 5.5 million euro ($ 6 million) to Moldova's Mobiasbanca-Groupe Societe Generale for renewable energy projects.

The loan will fund private companies undertaking energy-saving measures and investing in renewable energy projects and will be complemented by EU grants to provide direct incentives for borrowers of up to 20% of the loan amount, the EBRD said in a press release.

The financing is available under the Moldovan Sustainable Energy Financing Facility Extension (MoSEFF II) framework. Since 2010, when the EBRD started financing energy efficiency in Moldova, a total of over 38 million euro has been committed through MoSEFF to partner banks. The resulting energy savings amount to over 23,000 MWh per year and could meet the energy needs of residents in Moldova’s second-largest city, Balți, for more than a year, the EBRD said.

Moldova is 90% dependent on energy imports and spends over 30% of its import budget on energy. Such a high level of energy dependency, coupled with a waste of resources at end-user level and obsolete energy infrastructure, makes Moldova one of the most energy-intensive countries in the region, the EBRD added.

EBRD data shows that on average, Moldovan companies use three times more energy to produce the same output as companies in the European Union.

“With the help of our partners – the EBRD and the EU – the first two loans totalling 10 million euro were fully disbursed and showed remarkable results. More than 35 Moldovan companies benefited from financing with a grant component of up to 20% [..]," Mobiasbanca president Ridha Tekaia said.

A subsidiary of Groupe Societe Generale SA, Mobiasbanca is Moldova’s fourth-largest commercial bank, serving over 130,000 active clients in the corporate, small and medium-sized enterprise and retail sectors through a network of 58 branches.

The EBRD, one of the largest investors in Moldova, has signed over 100 investment projects in the country to date, covering energy, transport, agribusiness, general industry and banking sectors, for a cumulative amount of over 1 billion euro.

($=0.9144 euro)

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