Communication on the European Development Fund (EDF): forecasts of commitments, payments and contributions from Member States for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020

In accordance with Article 7(3) of the 11th EDF Internal Agreement and Article 21(2) of the Council Regulation (EU) 2015/323 on the financial regulation applicable to the 11th European Development Fund ("11th EDF Financial Regulation"), the Commission presents in this document estimates of commitments, payments and contributions for the period 2016 to 2018, taking into account the forecasts of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The document sets out the financial implementation of the EDFs (8th to 11th) for 2015 and the forecasts of implementation for 2016 until 2018. In addition, this document draws a non-binding estimation for the EDF contributions from the Member States for the years 2019 and 2020. Member States contribute funds directly to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the instruments which it manages under the 9th, 10th, and 11th EDFs (the Investment Facility and interest-rate subsidies).

The Commission and the EIB have updated their commitment and payment forecasts for 2016, 2017 and 2018 for each of the ACP countries and the OCTs. The payment forecasts in particular have been compiled with the aim of helping Member States to assess as accurately as possible the amounts they need to earmark in their national budgets while ensuring that sufficient financial resources are available for the EDF to avoid liquidity problems.