Development bank EBRD pushes up financing, braces for profit hit

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a record amount of financing last year but is bracing for a drop in profits following sharp falls in currencies like Turkey's lira and Russia's rouble.Preliminary figures for 2017 published by the EBRD on Wednesday showed it invested 9.7 billion euros (8.61 billion pounds) across a region that has spread from its eastern European heartland as far as Morocco, Mongolia and parts of the Middle East.It is expected to publish profit figure