Lenders say 25 billion euro package to aid Eastern Europe

By Lesley Wroughton and Carolyn Cohn

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The heads of three global development banks said on Friday they would seek solutions to an economic crisis in eastern and central Europe as they launched a joint programme to lend up to 24.5 billion euros (22 billion pounds) in the region.

The action plan by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) comes as European Union members prepare to discuss aid to banks at an emergency summit on Sunday.

The banks said the two-year plan would provide quick, large-scale financing to banks and ensure that companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, get access to capital.

"The institutions are working together to find practical, efficient and timely solutions to the crisis in eastern Europe," said EBRD President Thomas Mirow in a statement.

"This joint action plan will help speed up the delivery of vital finance through the banks to support the real economy of hard-hit countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe," said EIB President Philippe Maystadt.

Another EBRD official said the plan would feed into the EU summit's efforts to contain the economic crisis engulfing emerging Europe, that has seen some of its newer members seek emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund.

"This is what we are wanting to put into that summit, this is what we are doing," said an EBRD spokesperson.

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said in the statement the region's economic crisis was rapidly turning into a "human crisis," adding that the partnership would help address the risk of a banking sector crisis in eastern Europe.