The bank said that amidst a challenging year for financing it was able to overcome 2014’s €0.6bn loss and increase investments from €8.9bn, financing 381 individual projects in three dozen countries from Estonia to Egypt and Morocco to Mongolia.

“The EBRD has put in a very impressive performance, defying tough business conditions and once again responding to the needs of the countries where we work and the people that we serve,” said EBRD president Sir Suma Chakrabarti.

“At the same time we unveiled a strategy for the coming years that makes certain that the bank can carry on preparing its countries for a more robust – and more inclusive – economic future.”

The EBRD said it was particularly successful in attracting additional finance for its projects from commercial banks in 2015, mobilising more than €2.3bn via syndicated loans in over 40 projects – the highest level for syndicated lending since the financial crisis in 2008.

The bank said 2014’s loss largely reflected economic weakness in Russia and Ukraine. Following calls from a majority of shareholders, 2015 was the first full year in which the EBRD brought no new projects to Russia – once its single largest recipient of annual funding.

Ukraine on the other hand was the second largest recipient, with investments totalling just shy of €1bn. Turkey was the largest, with a significant rise in investment from €1.4bn to €1.9bn.

Central Asia and the countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean region also saw increases in funding.

Last year also saw the bank’s first investments in Greece, which has become a temporary country of operation. The EBRD invested €250 in the country's banks to help stabilise its financial sector.