LONDON- Algeria has become the 73rd member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the lender announced on Monday.

Algeria applied for EBRD membership in March 2020 hoping to receive investment and support for policy reforms, the development bank said in statement.

"We are happy to welcome Algeria as our latest shareholder and look forward to working together and discussing the next steps of our joint cooperation, notably for Algeria to become a recipient of the Bank’s operations," EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said in the statement.

The EBRD was set up three decades ago to invest in the ex-communist economies of eastern Europe.

It operates in nearly 40 economies, chiefly in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and central Asia. In the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, the EBRD invests and operates in several economies - namely Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as the West Bank and Gaza.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Barbara Lewis) ((karin.strohecker@thomsonreuters.com; +442075427262; Reuters Messaging: karin.strohecker.reuters.com@reuters.net))