European Investment Bank puts €3.7bn on the table to help businesses

EU. 2.4 billion to strengthen access to finance and the resilience of the economy in the face of the pandemic, €688 million for solar and wind energy, €381 million for transport, upgrading of hospitals and schools and sustainable urban investments. This brings the total amount of financing made available by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to European Union companies to €3.7 billion. This sum was approved on Thursday 11 March 2021 by the Bank's Board of Directors.

Of the initial €2.4 billion, €1.5 billion will be covered by the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF) and will benefit the private sector in the form of targeted credit lines managed by the EIB's local banking partners. Two operations have been launched to support business investment throughout Italy. Others have been approved, with new loan programmes in Italy, France and Slovenia.

The €688m will support the financing of several projects, including three solar power generation projects in Greece (230MW), seven others in Spain (253MW) and eleven wind farms in Poland (380MW of electricity).

Efforts on hospital transport, schools and sustainable urban investments (€381m available) will be concentrated on three major operations. The implementation of a fiber optic network offering high-speed internet to the inhabitants and businesses of more than 1,000 isolated rural villages in Georgia; the creation of a new medical complex with a teaching center and university clinic in Banja Luka (Bosnia-Herzegovina); the construction of seven schools and day-care centers in the city of Jyvaskyla (Finland); and the modernization of commuter trains in Stockholm.

"Since the beginning of Covid-19, the EIB Group has approved €40.3bn in financing for 251 projects to provide vaccines, improve public health and build economic resilience across Europe and the world," says a bank statement.


See the list of projects recently approved by the EIB