The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expanding its efforts to promote energy efficiency in Moldova with a €5.5 million loan to CB “MOBIASBANCA - Groupe Société Générale” S.A. for on-lending to private companies undertaking energy-saving measures and investing in renewable energy projects.
The loan will be complemented by European Union (EU) grants to provide direct incentives to borrowers of up to 20 per cent of the loan amount and to enable the EBRD to engage consultants to help Mobiasbanca and businesses with technical advice for these investments.
Julia Otto, Head of the EBRD’s office in Chisinau, said: “With this third loan to Mobiasbanca for financing sustainable energy projects in the private sector in Moldova we are responding to growing market demand for such finance and know-how. Mobiasbanca and its committed and professional team is a strong and dedicated partner of the EBRD. We are pleased to continue our joint efforts to help further increase competitiveness, profitability and energy savings of private companies in Moldova”.
Moldova is more than 90 per cent dependent on energy imports and spends more than 30 per cent of its import budget on energy. Such a high level of energy dependency, coupled with the waste of resources at end-user level and due to obsolete energy infrastructure, makes Moldova one of the most energy-intensive countries in Europe. On average, local companies use three times more energy to produce the same output as companies in the European Union.
Ridha Tekaia, President of Mobiasbanca, added: “With the help from our partners EBRD and EU the first two loans for a total amount of €10 million were fully disbursed and produced remarkable results. More than 35 Moldovan companies benefited from financing with a grant component up to 20 per cent, alongside professional technical expertise for energy-saving investments. This new loan is the expression of Mobiasbanca’s commitment to helping local business community as they seek finance and advice for energy efficiency investments”.
A subsidiary of Groupe Société Générale, Mobiasbanca is Moldova’s fourth-largest commercial bank, serving over 130,000 active clients in corporate, SME and retail sectors through a network of 58 branches.
The financing comes 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 has been committed through MoSEFF to the partner banks, helping over 150 businesses to cut their energy bills and CO2 emissions. The resulting energy savings amount to over 23,000 MWh per year and could meet energy needs of the residents of Moldova’s second largest city, Balti for more than a year. These projects helped reduce CO2 emissions by over 58,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions produced by over 40,000 cars.
The EBRD, one of the largest investors in Moldova, has to date signed over 100 investment projects in the country, covering energy, transport, agribusiness, general industry and banking sectors, for a cumulative amount of over €1 billion.