THE European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is making its largest-ever loan to the leasing sector in Russia, lending US$150 million to Austria's Raiffeisen-Leasing for on-lending to Russian businesses. Transport leasing is one of four sectors prioritised in this loan package, designed to 'encourage competition in the sector and spread leasing beyond Moscow and St Petersburg', said an EBRD note. In a complex deal, US$50 million has come from the EBRD's own coffers, while it has raised the other US$100 million from European commercial banks.