Record financing by the EIB last year
The European Investment Bank (EIB) said yesterday that its annual financing in Greece as well as the budget earmarked for future investment plans in the country reached record levels in 2020.
The Luxembourg-based institution said that 2.8 billion euros in new support for high-impact private and public investment across Greece was agreed last year between the EIB, the European Investment Fund (EIF) – whose mission is to help Europe’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access finance – and Greek partners. The EIB added it also green-lighted future investments of €4.3 billion.
Officials said financing in Greece last year represented the third largest engagement in the European Union as a percentage of national GDP. At the same time, EIB financing in the country represented the second largest per capita engagement in the bloc.
During 2020, financing from the EU’s investment bank was primarily aimed at helping Greek companies navigate the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, speed up the transition to renewable energy sources and improve road safety.
“The €2.8 billion of new EIB and EIF financing agreed last year is helping Greek companies – and, mostly, small and medium enterprises – to overcome the Covid-19 challenges and supporting energy transition, climate action and investment in infrastructure,” Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said during a videoconference yesterday.
“Furthermore, the €4.3 billion in new financing approved by the EIB for Greece – which is a historic high for the EIB in Greece and is almost three times higher than in 2019 – guarantees that the EIB Group will further strengthen its role as a key technical and financial partner of Greece,” stated Staikouras, also one of the EIB governors.
EIB President Werner Hoyer said the bank was committed to “supporting high-impact and transformational investment” across the country.
“EIB and EIF experts are learning from pioneering projects in Greece and sharing global best practices to help investment in Greece to deliver more. Looking ahead, the impact of future EIB Group activity will be further strengthened by the record approval of new projects. The close partnership between Greece and the EIB Group is delivering and will be even stronger in the future,” Hoyer said.