YEREVAN. – Armenia needs to encourage private investment in municipal infrastructure and utilities, Mr Mark Davis, head of the Yerevan office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said during the E5P energy efficiency workshop in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Grant amounts under E5P are intended to leverage loan projects, not necessarily with sovereign guarantee. On the contrary, with limited fiscal space Armenia has today, one needs to do crowd sourcing in private sector.

“EBRD is very much focused on commercialization of municipal services,” he said.

Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) is a multinational facility for energy efficiency investment. Armenia joined E5P in March 2015, pledging to contribute 1 million  euro, which enabled access to 20 million euro of grants. Armenia has already made an input of 100 thousand euro.

EBRD welcomes viable projects, and once the first stock of grants is disbursed, options of replenishing it could be considered, Davis said.