The initial issuance totaling $60 million represents the first tranche of Fransabank’s $150 million bond program. The EBRD participated alongside the International Finance Corporation, which subscribed to $45 million. The bond subscription marks the EBRD’s first debt project in Lebanon and follows the trade finance line signed on March 15th in Beirut by EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti.
Green financing is one of the EBRD’s strategic goals. At 43 percent of the Bank’s annual investment, the 2017 result for green financing surpassed the EBRD’s target to reach 40 percent in 2020 ahead of schedule.
In September 2017, Lebanon joined the Bank’s southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, which includes Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, where the EBRD has been investing and engaged in policy reforms since 2012, as well as the West Bank and Gaza since May 2017.
