The European Investment Bank is briefing its board of directors Tuesday on plans to reorganize how it invests outside Europe, an attempt to use recent criticism of its work in low-income countries as fuel for reform.
A 30-page presentation, seen by Devex, outlines how the lender wants to create a new “dedicated operational setup” for its work beyond the European Union. In 2020, €10.2 billion (approx. $12 billion) — 13% of the Luxembourg-based bank’s total financing — went outside the bloc, including €4.7 billion to Africa.
The new setup, which the bank says would require “no additional EIB capital,” is pitched as a “better-tailored business model” for work outside the EU, involving: