KfW was founded in 1948, to support the economic reconstruction of West Germany. In the 1960s, KfW went international by implementing German Financial Cooperation with Developing Countries on behalf of the German government. As a bank committed to responsibility, KfW´s mission is to support sustainable economic, social, and environmental development in Germany and worldwide. KfW is not profit-oriented and always acts on a mandate by the German Government and KfW´s General Assembly, which is composed of representatives of all relevant stakeholder groups, ranging from the German government, the parliament, and the federal states to the churches, trade unions, and the private sector. This is what sets KfW apart from commercial banks.
End of 2022, the balance sheet is around 550 bln EUR and the annual commitments worldwide exceed 170 bln EUR, thereof roughly 13 bln EUR in Development Cooperation. In total, KfW has 7,960 employees. The overarching goals are improving people’s economic and social living conditions, alleviating poverty, and protecting the climate and environment. As an institution that is governed by public law, the German Federal Government owns 80% of our capital, with the remaining 20% owned by the German federal states.
Portfolio overview
But our offer is not limited to financial support. We do have co-responsibility for the sustainable impact of all projects we are supporting. Our KfW project managers, technical and local experts closely monitor project progress and support our partners in day-to-day project management. They know the details of the projects and constantly visit them to follow up and discuss bottlenecks with the partners. This combination of favorable financial instruments, technical assistance and personal commitment to support our partners at any time makes KfW an outstanding development bank.
In the energy sector, KfW has an active portfolio of more than 700 MEUR with a focus on renewable energies, energy efficiency and interconnectivity of the transmission system. As examples we financed the rehabilitation of the Mali Zvornik hydropower plant in cooperation with EPS and have been supporting the rehabilitation and extension of the district heating system, including the introductionof renewable biomass energy in local district heating systems, together with the Ministry of Mining and Energy. The first three biomass plants in Priboj, Mali Zvornik and Novi Pazar became operational in 2021 and 2022.
When it comes to energy efficiency, we are cooperating with the Ministry of Public Investment (formerly Public Investment Management Office (PIMO)) in the energetic refurbishment of public buildings like schools and hospitals. In Belgrade, we are supporting the energetic refurbishment of the VMA hospital. We also promote national and regional electricity connectivity with the Trans Balkan Corridor in cooperation with EMS.
With regard to sustainable urban development, we have invested more than 120 million EUR so far in countrywide projects to improve urban water supply systems and wastewater management. In cooperation with Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure, in Kruševac and Vranje, two state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants were opened in 2021.
In these two regions, we are also financing regional waste management systems. Moreover, under the auspices of our cooperation in Serbia, we support sustainable economic development, secure jobs, and technical and vocational education. We provide small and medium- sized enterprises with favourable loans and technical assistance through commercial local banks.
In cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (PKS), we established in 2021 the Serbian Entrepreneurship Foundation which offers loan guarantees schemes for start-ups and beginners in the business.
We have recently started to promote dual education in Serbia and the Western Balkan region through a program called the Regional Challenge Fund, in cooperation with the WB Chamber Investment Forum. in 2021, we successfully launched the first call for vocational training and education consortia of interested companies and educational institutes. More than 40 applications in Serbia alone have been submitted and further calls for applications are planned this year.
KfW Projects in Serbia
Climate & Energy
Sustainable Economic Development and Employment
German support for Serbia aims to contribute to EU rapprochement, to strengthen the performance of the economy and, in turn, to improve living conditions in the country.