LONDON — Three multilateral organizations on Thursday announced a 30 billion euro joint action plan to support economic recovery and growth in crisis-hit central and south-eastern Europe. The two-year plan agreed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and World Bank is similar to a joint action plan they launched after the 2008/09 financial crisis. The latest plan is “a direct response to the continuing impact of euro zone problems on the economies of emerging Europe”, the organizations said in a statement. The EBRD, which spearheaded the Vienna Initiative to prevent disorderly deleveraging by western European banks from emerging Europe, said it would commit four billion euros over the 2013/14 period. The EIB will commit 20 billion euros and the World Bank 6.5 billion. The plan will support private and public sector initiatives, including infrastructure, corporate investment and the financial sector, in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. “These countries have made important adjustments in fiscal and current accounts, increased domestic savings and improved bank balance sheets,” the multilateral organisations said. “But they still face important challenges, including the continuing impact of problems in the euro zone.” The commitments made exceed the 24.5 billion euros lent by the organisations during the previous joint action plan in 2009/10. The EBRD projects growth for the whole emerging Europe and North Africa region in which it operates, of 2.7 percent in 2012 and 3.2 percent in 2013. It sees recession this year in Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. — Reuters
