The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution (IFI) established in 1991 in response to major political and economic changes in central and eastern Europe following the collapse of communism. Today the Bank supports investment projects in 35 countries. The Bank is the largest financial investor in its traditional region of operations from central Europe to central Asia. In 2012, it also started expanding its activities to the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, with an initial focus on Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The EBRD operates across different sectors of the economy, ranging from agribusiness to municipal and environmental infrastructure, transport, manufacturing and services, financial institutions to energy and natural resources.