At a joint press conference with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Suma Chakrabati, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, remarked:

“Georgia is the leader in terms of support received per capita from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.” The Prime Minister also added that the EBRD implemented more than 200 projects in Georgia and invested approximately EUR 3 billion.

FactCheck

verified the accuracy of the statement.

According to the EBRD’s official project finance database,

the first investment in Georgia, in the amount of EUR 310,000, was made on 21 November 1994. After that, the EBRD provided funds for the restoration of Tbilisi’s airport in 1995 for which EUR 10 million was allocated. Money was transferred for TBC Bank, Bank Republic, Bank of Georgia and other financial and non-financial establishment projects as well as for those of other public sector agencies. In the period of 1996-2016, a total of 208 projects were funded. Of these, 90% was implemented in the private sector and the remaining 10% in the public sector. The total amount of the aforementioned investments reached EUR 2.9 billion.

In the period of 1991-2016, the EBRD provided funds for 5,652 projects in 37 countries with a total volume of EUR 116 billion. In terms of investments per capita, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia are the recipient leaders with EUR 848, EUR 815 and EUR 774 per capita, respectively. Georgia is in fourth place with EUR 748 in investment per capita.

Graph 1:

 Top 10 Countries in Terms of EBRD Investment Per Capita in 1994-2016 (EUR)

	Country	Number of Investments	Amount of Investments	Investments Per Capita
1	Croatia	195	3,569,900,793	848
2	Montenegro	56	510,501,601	815
3	Macedonia	111	1,611,780,543	774
4	Georgia	208	2,972,774,803	748
5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	140	2,010,161,241	530
6	Bulgaria	241	3,633,299,504	516
7	Serbia	211	4,407,564,385	502
8	Mongolia	86	1,498,353,773	491
9	Estonia	80	614,595,400	471
10	Slovakia	76	946,166,110	457

Source: EBRD Project Finance Database   Additional information in regard to investments made by the EBRD is accessible in FactCheck’s article

published in March 2017.

Conclusion

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was founded in 1991 and made its first investment in Georgia in 1994. Of the total volume of  EUR 2.9 billion for 208 investments implemented in Georgia, the largest amount of funds was invested in the banking and agricultural sectors with 36% and 16%, respectively.

In terms of the EBRD’s volume of financial assistance per capita, Georgia occupies the fourth place after Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

FactCheck concludes that Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.