The new head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has defended its lending practices in autocratic countries despite its mandate to operate in nations committed to multi-party democracy and pluralism.
Some of the EBRD’s biggest markets, including Turkey, Egypt and Belarus, have taken an authoritarian turn in recent years. But Odile Renaud-Basso, former head of the French treasury, who took over as EBRD president last month, said the bank’s focus on private-sector lending helped strengthen civil society against repressive regimes.
“If you cut off all financing I’m not sure that you will support the evolution of the country — and the democratic evolution of the country,” she said in an interview with the Financial Times when asked about the bank’s activities in Egypt. The bank, she said, wanted to “help countries move in the right direction.”
According to the EBRD’s founding statutes, its purpose is to operate in “countries…