LONDON — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Friday that the eurozone debt crisis would slash growth this year across its current and future “transition” countries of operation.

The EBRD — which since 1991 has helped ex-communist countries switch to a market economy — forecast growth of 3.1 percent this year across a region of operation that comprises 33 countries, including Hungary, Jordan and Russia.

“Growth in the transition region is expected to substantially slow from 4.6 percent in 2011 to 3.1 percent in 2012 before modestly picking up to 3.7 percent in 2013, as the eurozone debt crisis hurts the region,” the EBRD said in its latest economic outlook.

“A further worsening of the eurozone crisis or an oil supply shock are both possible and pose significant downside risks for the region as a whole. In addition, domestic risks have risen in some countries,” it added.

The EBRD published its outlook at the start of its annual meeting in London, where shareholders are also voting on who they think should lead the bank over the next four years.

Current president and German national Thomas Mirow is hoping to win a second term in office but faces a challenge from four other candidates.

Frenchman Philippe de Fontaine Vive Curtaz, a vice president of the EU’s European Investment Bank, is hoping to take the EBRD’s top job, as are senior British civil servant Suma Chakrabarti, ex-Polish prime minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and former Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Djelic.

The result was due late in London on Friday. Formed 21 years ago to also promote democracy in nations such as Kazakhstan and Poland — and more recently in Mongolia and Turkey — the EBRD plans to soon start private-sector investments across North Africa and the Middle East. — AFP