EBRD agrees Greek lending till end-2020, no upper limit

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[March 03, 2015]  By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday its shareholders had voted unanimously to start providing investment and funding support to Greece for the next five years.

Bank President Suma Chakrabarti said there would be no defined upper limit to its spending in Greece and that it would depend instead upon the projects proposed.

"There's not going to be a cap," Chakrabarti said, adding the bank's experts planned to start talks with Greek authorities on possible projects by the end of the week.

The former Greek government put in a request late last year to become an EBRD 'country of operation' and make it eligible for the development bank's support, but the process was put on hold during the uncertainty of the country's recent elections.

However, last week's four-month Greek aid extension by the euro zone has put it back on track and EBRD shareholders - 64 countries plus the European Union and European Investment Bank - unanimously back the proposal, Chakrabarti said.

Greece would not have to be formally engaged in an IMF or other program, he added, saying that lending to small and medium-sized businesses could also begin very quickly.

Greece becomes the second of the euro zone's troubled members to get investment from the EBRD after Cyprus was granted approval last year.

The EBRD was originally created in 1991 originally to invest in the former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe and help them make the transition to market-based economies.

However, it has expanded its reach in recent years to also include Turkey, Mongolia and the economies affected directly or indirectly by the Arab Spring such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Writing by Philip Blenkinsop and Marc Jones in London; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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