Spain biggest recipient of EIB Group financing in EU in 2016

EIB group provide Spain the biggest loan by financing almost 100 000 Spanish SMEs. This will focus on sustainable growth of the companies.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) presented today in Madrid the results of its activity in Spain in 2016. EIB Group financing in Spain last year totalled EUR 11 540 million, the highest amount in the European Union. This EUR 11 540 million financed 112 projects in all sectors of the Spanish economy. A large part of this financing – EUR 8 106 million – was dedicated to providing credit on favourable terms to around 100 000 Spanish firms employing 1 200 000 people.

At the press conference to present the EIB Group’s activity, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano said: “2016 was a highly positive year for EIB activity in Spain. We financed an increased number of projects and this will ensure that the favourable terms of EIB Group financing reach more sectors of the Spanish economy. We are particularly happy with our support for SMEs, which are the drivers of wealth, growth and job creation. Nearly 70% of our financing targeted these objectives”. The EIB Vice-President also referred to the Investment Plan for Europe: “In 2016, Spain was also the EU Member State that received the second highest amount of finance under the Juncker Plan, aimed at supporting innovative and sustainable production projects executed by our country’s firms, enabling them to access the necessary credit to obtain cutting-edge technologies and remain competitive”.

In addition to the more than EUR 8 billion worth of financing for Spanish SMEs, the EIB Group dedicated EUR 1 866 million to financing strategic energy and transport infrastructure. Another key target of EIB activity in the country is innovation, which attracted EUR 864 million aimed at financing the RDI of Spanish firms. Lastly, EIB financing also reached renewable energy development and sustainable transport projects and supported investment by companies geared to energy efficiency and environmental protection. EUR 700 million was provided under this heading.

Investment Plan for Europe: results in Spain in 2016

Last year, the EIB Group approved a total of EUR 2.7 billion worth of financing under the Investment Plan for Europe in Spain, the second largest amount in this framework in the European Union as a whole. In 2016, 28 projects were approved under the Juncker Plan in Spain, designed to leverage around EUR 15 billion.

Since the launch of the Investment Plan for Europe in 2015, the EIB Group has approved 40 operations in Spain corresponding to total investment of EUR 3 420 million, that is expected to leverage over EUR 23 billion worth of investment in the Spanish economy. This financing has supported major projects fostering innovation, sustainable production, the acquisition of state-of-the-art digital technologies and the competitiveness of Spanish companies. At the same time it has facilitated investment in hitherto unreached sectors of the economy. The bulk of this investment has targeted RDI, the introduction of new greener production processes and the transport sector.

Specifically, EIB Group financing under the Juncker Plan has supported among other things the innovation programmes of Cosentino in Andalusia and Dominion in the Basque Country. It has also facilitated the digital transformation of El Corte Inglés and underpinned the introduction of more sustainable production systems at Aragon-based firm SAICA, a leading producer of recycled cardboard products.

EIB Group’s overall results

Overall EIB Group financing last year totalled EUR 83.8 billion, consisting of EUR 75 billion in EIB loans and over EUR 9 billion in operations mounted by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the EIB subsidiary that specialises in providing risk financing solutions to financial intermediaries to support SMEs and foster innovation in Europe.

At the same time, by the end of 2016 the EIB Group had approved total financing of EUR 30.2 billion under the Investment Plan for Europe in the EU as a whole, which is expected to leverage total investment of around EUR 164 billion – 52% of the Plan’s EUR 315 billion target for its first three years.