EIB approves €7.5bn in new financing for global projects
The European Investment Bank has approved €7.5 billion of new financing for projects across Europe and around the world.
The financing includes investment to improve public health, hospital and elderly care facilities and dedicated new business lending programmes to support sectors most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the total, €1.5 billion will be used for clean transport and improving electric vehicle charging, including financing for new regional trains in Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany and investment in the Spanish high-speed rail network, alongside a new financing programme to accelerate use of zero emission hydrogen and electricity powered buses across the Netherlands.
Two new projects approved will help to increase the use of renewable energy in France through support for small-scale renewable energy schemes and biogas technology. The EIB Board also approved financing for a new cross-border gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria and a gas import facility in Cyprus.
The board approved also €3.2 billion of new financing to support private sector and public health investment.
This includes targeted credit lines in Spain, Mexico, Uzbekistan, the Maldives and through regional initiatives with partners across Africa to help companies in sectors most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate action business financing programme in Greece and financing for innovative companies in Italy.
New hospital and healthcare financing will support the emergency response to COVID-19 in Spain and Portugal, and construction of a new hospital and improvement of existing intensive care facilities in Antwerp. The EIB also agreed to finance a new programme to improve care facilities for elderly people across Portugal.
The Board also approved a regional initiative to strengthen the public healthcare response to COVID-19 in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, as well as Moldova, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
