The Minister of Finance, Aleksandar Damjanović, MSc, and the Head of Montenegro for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Remon Zakaria, signed today a Guarantee Agreement between the two institutions for the Amendment to the Loan Agreement between Crnogorski elektroprenosni sistem AD (CGES) and the EBRD, for the purposes of financing the project of installing a variable shunt reactor, in the amount of up to 9 million euros, in the substation Lastva.
The Executive Director of CGES, Ivan Asanović, signed the Amendment to the Loan Agreement on behalf of that company.
Bearing in mind the liquidity and continuous positive results in the operations of CGES, as well as the need to invest in improving the safety of the electricity transmission network, as one of the pillars of the development of the energy sector in Montenegro, Minister Damjanović pointed out that the issuance of a sovereign guarantee for the mentioned loan agreement is economically justified by the 2023 Budget Law, as well as the accompanying Decision on Borrowing.
The Executive Director of CGES, Ivan Asanović, announced that by extending the Loan Agreement between the company he manages and the EBRD, which was concluded in 2013 with the aim of investing in the transmission network, i.e. the quality and modernisation of services, the basis for the finalisation of the SS Lastva project, i.e. the accelerated procurement of a variable shunt reactor and connection, which will permanently enable the safe operation of the electrical network and interconnection with Italy, was created.
The Head of the EBRD for our country, Remon Zakaria, said that this is one of a series of successful projects that the bank he represents is implementing with Montenegro and expressed expectations that cooperation in all spheres that the EBRD financially supports would be expanded and intensified.
The Amendment to the Loan Agreement in the value of 9 million euros signed today defines the term of availability of funds until 15 November 2025 and the variable interest rate, which, in accordance with the standard conditions of the EBRD, amounts to six-month EURIBOR + 1%, with the fact that the Amendment added the option of choosing to calculate interest at a fixed interest rate as defined by the EBRD's Standard Terms and Conditions.
