Agreement on EBRD Loan of USD 300 Million for Reforming of EPS Signed

The agreement on the loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) of USD 300 million for reforming Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) was signed today in Belgrade.

This is the second biggest EBRD loan to Serbia, and the bank has so far invested EUR 7.9 billion in this market, announced the Ministry of Finance.

The financing will be secured through two tranches, with a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Republic of Serbia.

The loan agreement was signed by the minister of finance of Serbia, Sinisa Mali, and the EBRD regional director for the Western Balkans, Matteo Colangeli, as well as the director of EPS, Miroslav Tomasevic, and the head of the energy sector of southeast Europe at the EBRD, Grzegorz Zielinski.

The loan will be used by EPS, which faced a considerable drop in liquidity this winter season due to the import of large quantities of electrical energy.

The minister pointed out that there would be efforts to reform EPS, which needed to have stronger corporate management and better management capacities.

At the meeting of the representatives of the Government of Serbia and the EBRD, it was said that large hydro power plants in Serbia secured around 30% of the energy, whereas renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, comprised less than 3% of the production and had the potential to considerably help Serbia develop a clean new local energy supply.

In 2022, the EBRD secured a total of EUR 650 million for Serbia, of which more than three quarters was put into projects in the private sector.