The loan granted to the Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) by the European Investment Bank (EIB) will be allocated to finance small and medium-scale projects carried out by SMEs, mainly in convergence regions in Spain. ICO will match the EIB loan with the same amount, meaning that a total of €1 billion will be pumped into the small business sector.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €500 million loan to Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) to finance on favourable terms the investment projects and working capital of small and medium-sized businesses, mainly in convergence regions in Spain and in the industrial and service sectors. ICO will match the EIB loan with the same amount, meaning that a total of €1 billion.

This credit line follows on from the SME loan signed with ICO in June 2012, providing small businesses with access to credit on preferential terms and underlining the EIB’s strong support for Spain’s economic recovery. The previous credit line has been used in full to help finance a total of 12 863 investment projects, mainly in the automotive (3221 projects), manufacturing (2046 projects) and transport (1949 projects) sectors. The new loan will also support projects contributing to energy saving and diversification and promote private enterprise in the health and education sectors.

Supporting SMEs is one of the EIB’s investment priorities. This is the EIB’s fifth SME financing loan to ICO in operations of this type totalling €2.5 billion (€5 billion with ICO’s matching finance) and follows on from numerous other credit lines in a relationship that goes back to 1986, proving once again that the two institutions are working hard together to facilitate SMEs’ access to finance in the midst of the economic crisis.