2016 EBRD Constituency Meeting in Sarajevo

The next annual meeting of the member countries of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) constituency to which Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs will be held in Sarajevo, announced the Central Bank of BiH, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

During today's meeting held in Jerusalem, Israel, the Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBiH), authorized by the Governor of BiH at the EBRD, Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija, Dr. Kemal Kozarić invited the governors and deputy governors at the EBRD to gather in Sarajevo next year.

Meetings of the EBRD Constituency are held annually as preparatory meetings for the EBRD Annual Meeting. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the constituency chaired by Austria includes Cyprus, Malta, Israel, and Kazakhstan.

During the presentation of macroeconomic data, Governor Kozarić said that Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite a very difficult year, managed to remain in a positive GDP growth zone, which for 2014 amounted to 0.7%.

- Unfortunately, a series of negative events, especially the catastrophic floods that hit our country, forced us to revise our projections downwards several times, said the governor.

Nevertheless, CBBiH forecasts for 2015 show expectations that this year will bring a mild economic recovery.

- Our forecast for 2015 is GDP growth of 2.5%, while the EBRD even predicts a stronger recovery of 2.7%. Also, we expect industrial production growth of 5% and a decrease in unemployment of 1.3%, because the unemployment rate of 27.5% is the biggest problem of the BiH economy - said the governor.

One of the essential elements of Bosnia and Herzegovina's economic recovery over the past few years has been the participation of international financial institutions, and the EBRD is considered the largest institutional investor in BiH. Since 1996, when the EBRD started operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 119 projects have been financed with a total value of 1.7 billion EUR. Of that amount, 46% was invested in infrastructure reconstruction, 11% in energy resource investments, 14% in projects in the economy, trade, and agriculture, and 29% in financial institutions.

- What is particularly important to note is that the EBRD firmly stood by Bosnia and Herzegovina during the global financial crisis and continued to support infrastructure projects, the energy sector, and small and medium-sized privately owned enterprises, and EBRD representatives promised a continued partnership with BiH - emphasized Governor Dr. Kemal Kozarić.