European bank chief eyes transition as world recovers
Odile Renaud-Basso, the first female president at Europe's development bank, hopes to revive the EBRD's green investment targets while addressing workplace equality as COVID-19-hit economies recover.
Before presiding over her first EBRD gross annual meeting this week, within an interview with AFP, Renaud-Basso also highlighted the rapid workplace digitalisation that's affecting the bank's parts of investment and her own institution.
A former head of the French Treasury, in November Renaud-Basso took the helm at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - founded in 1991 to greatly help former Soviet bloc countries switch to free-market economies.
The lender, whose shareholders comprise almost 70 countries, is continuing to grow to purchase 38 emerging economies spanning central and eastern Europe, Central Asia, the center East and North Africa.
"Normally, 2020 was less negative than expected" in the EBRD's countries of investment, Renaud-Basso told AFP.
This season the EBRD foresees "superior to expected" economic growth across its countries of investment, after most economies contracted this past year due to pandemic turmoil, she said.
The bank is to publish its latest forecasts on Tuesday.
Renaud-Basso pointed to rebounds in manufacturing and industrial production, as well as the positive impact of higher commodity charges for the better-than-expected outlook.
But "big uncertainties remain", with countries reliant on tourism, notably Tunisia, hit hard by COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Elsewhere, "Lebanon remains very hard after minus 25 % GDP in 2020, which means this has a huge impact on the average".
A political crisis has left the country with out a functioning government since the last one resigned after an enormous explosion killed dozens and destroyed swathes of Beirut in August 2020.
The EBRD last year invested a record €11 billion (US$13.4 billion) across emerging economies meanwhile, to greatly help counter fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
That marked a 10-per cent increase from 2019.
GREEN TARGET
No stranger to transition projects, the EBRD is targeting 2025 as the entire year when over fifty percent its investments will maintain green projects.
"We were very near this objective in 2019 but with the crisis the figure has dropped" to under 30 % last year, the lender chief said.
"The objective is to increase again ... (to) 40 % in 2021."
Renaud-Basso noted that "it is pretty challenging to have this degree of private sector investment" in green projects compared with large public infrastructure schemes bankrolled by governments.
However the EBRD is pushing ahead and is looking at being fully aligned with the goals of the Paris accord by the finish of next year.
"It means screening all our projects, all our activities, including (that) our investments are consistent with the Paris agreement.
"This is a big step forward ... This could have huge implications for our activities and just how we connect to the countries," she insisted.
The 2015 Paris climate agreement aims to limit global temperature rises to significantly less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels also to pursue efforts to decrease to at least one 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Experts believe this could be achieved only by the world reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
EQUALITY ISSUES
Renaud-Basso is keen also to address the impact that COVID-19 has already established on women and young workers.
"Among the big themes appearing out of the crisis is equality of opportunities and gender equalities.
She pointed to how women have already been "particularly affected" by lockdowns as a result of their increased role in the services and hospitality sectors.
"Among the objectives of an institution just like the EBRD is to greatly help countries who address this challenge."
When lending to other banks, the EBRD could have "a strategy to target the financing on women entrepreneurs or young entrepreneurs", said Renaud-Basso.
She added that the pandemic's "effect on young people has also been very dramatic... that is something which must be taken into account".
DIGITALISATION
The EBRD chief also wants the bank to "better support" countries' digital transformations due to the pandemic.
"The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated dramatically the digitalisation of the economies and we see that everywhere," she said.
As for the lender itself, Renaud-Basso is looking at a hybrid working arrangement, whereby staff would work at work for three days weekly and two in the home.
But while the "remote world ... includes a lot of benefits, it's not a panacea. Additionally, there are some drawbacks in conditions of collective work, capacity to brainstorm".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
