A Delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), led by James Hudson, visited the BiH Central Bank yesterday, where they spoke with the governor of the Central Bank Kemal Kozarić and representatives of the entity agencies for banking and the Deposit Insurance Agency of BiH.
The visit of the EBRD representatives was organized as part of a regular annual consultation visit to government representatives and people belonging in the business sector in countries in which the EBRD invests. They would become familiar with the work of the BiH representatives, and the opportunities for improvement in cooperation and increasing the level of investments.
They were interested in the situation in the banking sector, and the mode of operation of the deposit insurance program in BiH.
Kozarić stressed that EBRD is a very important institutional investor for BiH, and that it is particularly important, given that BiH does not have access to European funds as a country with candidate status. During the global financial crisis, EBRD kept its support for projects in infrastructure, in the financial and private sector.
Until the end of 2011, the EBRD has approved around 1.4 billion euros. Last year, it approved 125 million euros for infrastructure projects and in the electricity and private sectors.
Kozarić said that BiH has huge potential, which should motivate potential investors. In addition, it is expected that Croatian accession to the EU would be an added incentive to BiH authorities to do more to influence growth.
During the meeting, they found mutual agreement on the need for further investment in BiH, where the EBRD representatives were particularly interested in the opportunity to increase lending credit in the real sector.
They pointed out that the biggest part of the loan portfolio of these institutions for industrial production was scheduled for the Western Balkans, and they expect that future strategy would remain focused on the private sector.
Directors of the agencies for banking informed the guests of the indicators and the state of the banking sector, and pointed that reduced lending activity is not the cause of restrictive regulations but rather prudent risk assessment by banks.
Also, the Director of the Deposit Insurance Agency of BiH spoke to EBRD representatives with the deposit insurance program and the percentage of coverage.
