EBRD to invest PLN

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to invest up to €700 million  in Poland this year, including a project to help the Warsaw bourse return to growth, Reuters quoted the EBRD local chief. "We've already signed deals worth around €200 million this year," EBRD's Polish director Grzegorz Zieliński told Reuters. "For the whole year we'd like to engage in projects worth €600-700 million." "We are deeply concerned about further growth of the capital market in Poland, as it is vital to the economy," Zieliński said. WSE's overall market capitalisation has shrunk 26 percent year-on-year to PLN 1 trillion as banks and utilities, the two largest Warsaw-listed sectors, have been hit by the conservative government's bank asset tax and the cabinet's insistence on making state-run power producers help out Poland's loss-making coal miners. "We would very much like to support reversing the negative trend," he said.