Eastern Europe's tariff challenge

摘要

As a major investor in eastern Europe, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is well placed to influence how the water sector develops. Its future policy on tariffs is being shaped by research it has carried out and reported on in a recently-issued paper. In its working paper 'Can poor consumers pay for energy and water? An affordability analysis for transition countries', the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reports on a bank study that considered the 27 countries of central eastern Europe and the Baltics (CEB - the new EU member states), south-eastern Europe (SEE - three EU candidates and countries of the Western Balkans) and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The need to improve services in these countries with economies in transition raises the prospect of higher prices and improved payment collection. However, the report notes that 'surprisingly little' is known about the affordability of infrastructure services such as water, district heating and electricity. Household survey data was used to look at how low income households and other vulnerable groups might be affected by such changes.