The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it aims to open two more offices in Egypt as part of its planned expansion in the country.
EBRD’s managing director for the southern and eastern Mediterranean, Janet Heckman told Amwal Al Ghad the bank will set up the offices in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia this year and in the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut in 2020.
The new offices will serve EBRD’s plans to expand its financing in Egypt, Heckman said.
Set up in 1991 to help ex-communist countries of eastern Europe shift to market economies, the London-based EBRD has extended its operations over the last decade to more than 35 countries, from Morocco to Mongolia.
It started operating in Egypt in 2012, a year after the uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak and threw the country into turmoil.
Last year Egypt overtook Turkey as the EBRD’s largest country of investment, with about €1.2 billion invested in renewable energy, power, property and tourism, agribusiness and transport.