A year of consolidation: CEB in 2024

A key factor behind this was the CEB’s first-ever increase in capital with cash contributions, which became effective in February 2024. This vote of confidence in the CEB underlines the prime importance its member countries attach to Europe’s social sectors and the Bank’s instrumental role in strengthening them.

The capital increase had a positive effect on CEB’s standing in financial markets: all leading credit agencies confirmed the Bank’s triple-A rating during the year, citing among other factors, the CEB’s solid capital base and its track record when it comes to liquidity and access to market funding.

The Bank’s reputation for bond issuance continued to grow, as its trademark Social Inclusion Bonds (SIB), which were launched in 2017, surpassed €10 billion in total issuances in 2024 – a milestone that was celebrated with bell-ringing ceremonies in stock exchanges in New York and Luxembourg. By year-end, CEB bonds were issued in over half a dozen currencies, including a new issuance in offshore Chinese yuan.

A diversified new project portfolio

Buoyed by these achievements, the goals set under the CEB’s Strategic Framework 2023-2027 remained well on track for all three priority action areas: investing in people and enhancing human capital; promoting inclusive and resilient living environments; and supporting jobs and economic and financial inclusion. In 2024, 44 new loans were approved for projects in such sectors as healthcare, education, affordable housing, and small business development, with a firm focus on disadvantaged and marginalised groups in an effort to reduce disparities.

The loans, totalling €4.5 billion, were spread over 22 countries; more than half of all loans approved were in favour of 15 of the CEB’s 23 Target Group Countries in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. In Croatia, the Bank approved €250 million to help bolster social infrastructure investments in municipalities and counties, 40% of which has been earmarked for start-ups and other small and micro-business projects, many of them led by women. Improving access to microcredit for low earners was also a goal of CEB loans approved for Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Belgium. Loans to Slovenia and Spain aim to provide affordable housing, including assisted housing for elderly people, while loans for several other projects were directed towards education, including in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Lithuania. Developing affordable mental and physical healthcare is the objective of Finland’s €150 million loan, while bolstering healthcare delivery is among the aims of new projects in the Slovak Republic and Spain. Projects to revamp ageing water and waste water systems also featured strongly in several countries, such as in the Slovak Republic, and to support district heating in Latvia and Iceland. Meanwhile clean, affordable transport is the goal of a project in the French city of Marseille.

In Ukraine, which joined the CEB in 2023, the Bank stepped up its support for displaced persons and microfinance needs, and further developed operations in healthcare and housing, including providing funds for repairing war-damaged homes.

The CEB’s longstanding role as a provider of emergency relief was in evidence again in 2024. In Türkiye, the Bank approved financing both for emergency preparedness and to assist with efforts to strengthen healthcare facilities following the tragic earthquake of February 2023. In Iceland, the CEB supported government efforts to address the fallout from the volcanic eruption during the year.

A pivotal time for the Strategic Framework

Overall in 2023-24, the CEB approved 92 projects for a total loan value of nearly €9 billion. The report card augurs well for a positive mid-term review of the Strategic Framework in 2025, and was achieved in a challenging context, marked by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and a resurgence in migration and inflation, not to mention the climate emergency, fallout from the pandemic, and a fragile economy. All CEB operations were screened according to the cross-cutting issues of climate and gender set out under the Framework.

Investment projects over the past year aligned with the Reykjavík Declaration, adopted by Heads of State and Government at the 4th Council of Europe Summit in 2023. This called on the CEB to “focus on the social dimensions of climate change” and to “help member states achieve a fair and inclusive transition”, and was in line with the Bank’s ongoing exploration of the linkages between social and climate goals (see Report of the Governor 2022). At the UN climate conference COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, the CEB underlined the importance of social action for achieving a just transition to a low-carbon economy, both by safeguarding the welfare of vulnerable groups affected by the transition and underpinning broader efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Moreover, the CEB has taken advantage of its robust performance to equip itself and prepare the institution for the social challenges ahead. This has demanded action internally, to enhance administrative and workflow processes by deepening the application of digital systems, for instance, while also updating the Bank’s policy standards on environmental and social safeguards.

Donors and partnerships remain critical

Improving performance has also meant seeking further support through partnerships with the aim of enhancing the CEB’s reach and impact. Thanks to the InvestEU guarantee agreement signed with the European Commission in 2022, the Bank has issued over €460 million in additional financing for projects with high social value in CEB’s EU member states, notably to support initiatives encouraging social enterprise and microfinance for small businesses. Since joining the InvestEU Advisory Hub in January 2023, the CEB has successfully approved 23 technical assistance projects, amounting to €5.1 million – of which 18 projects totalling €2.2 million were approved in 2024.

The CEB and other Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) participants marked 15 years of investment in the region’s convergence and integration with the EU. To date, CEB projects have benefited from €143 million in WBIF grants, notably in education and healthcare. The CEB has also strengthened its cooperation with peer multilateral development banks (MDBs), and in December, took over as Chair of the Heads of MDBs Group, a forum for dialogue and coordination, for the first time. MDBs have made progress working together as a system, as called for by the G20, by continuing efforts to deliver more and better on their operations. Committing to boost finance for climate action has been a highly visible initial outcome of this joint effort, with attention also focused on sustainable development, among other pressing global challenges. The CEB’s role as Chair will be to drive momentum on this strengthened collaboration, while contributing its own perspectives as Europe’s social development bank of choice.

Meanwhile, the CEB will continue to act as a bulwark for its member countries during the current, uncertain times, by deploying its knowledge, experience and skills and resources to promote social inclusion and solidarity, as well as by working alongside local communities to forge a thriving, more resilient Europe.

©CEB 2025