OREANDA-NEWS. October 08, 2009. The EBRD’s Board has adopted a new strategy for Lithuania (http://www.ebrd.com/about/strategy/country/lith/index.htm) which addresses Lithuania’s crisis needs and underpins the Bank’s commitment to support the country in further advancing the transition reforms, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

While acknowledging that Lithuania remains one of the most advanced transition countries, the EBRD strategy identifies a number of priority areas for its future activities in the country.

In the light of the financial crisis, the main priorities of the Lithuanian government are to stabilise the financial system, further improve the business environment to retain investor confidence, ensure security of energy supply and modernise municipal and environmental infrastructure.

In the coming years, the Bank’s activities will focus on crisis response as well as on addressing remaining transition challenges to meet the changing needs of the Lithuanian economy.

The EBRD will focus on the financial sector with the objective of enhancing the flow of credits to the country’s corporate sector, particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises, through loans to local banks. The Bank will also aim to support local companies with equity capital by investing in equity funds.

In addition, the EBRD will support Lithuania’s efforts to improve energy security and to finance investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, as well as in the municipal and environmental infrastructure sector.

To date the EBRD has invested close to EUR500 million in the financial, infrastructure, corporate and energy sectors of the Lithuanian economy.