November 29 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it is launching a 300 million euro ($355 million) framework to support efforts aiming to resolve the challenge of high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE).
The facility will allow EBRD to acquire minority stakes in NPL servicers, invest in NPL portfolios and provide senior debt instruments to co-investors for the purchase of NPL portfolios, the bank said in a statement.
"The combination of financial intervention and policy engagement will allow us to address one of the key post-crisis legacy issues in the banking sector. It comes at exactly the right point in time to contribute to the return to strong growth in our region," Nick Tesseyman, EBRD managing director for financial institutions, said.
In its latest NPL Monitor, published on Wednesday, the Vienna Initiative warned that despite a decline in 2016, NPL levels in CESEE remained persistently high for many countries, exceeding 10% in six of the 17 countries of the region.
($= 0.8449 euro)