The EIB has granted a loan of 150 million euros to the ICF to increase financing for small and medium-sized businesses in Catalonia. The ICF will provide an additional 150 million, with the aim of stimulating economic growth and job creation.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of 150 million euros to the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) aimed at increasing financing for small (up to 249 employees) and medium-sized (up to 2.999 employees) businesses in Catalonia. The main objective of the operation is to stimulate economic growth and job creation.
The ICF will allocate resources from the EIB to finance projects promoted by SMEs based and/or established in Catalonia. The EIB credit will serve, among other things, to support the companies’ R&D&I activities, their internationalisation, an increase in their exports or an improvement in their productivity and competitiveness.
The EIB loan will offer financing under favourable long-term conditions, which the ICF will pass on to the end beneficiaries of the loans.
The ICF will add an additional 150 million euros to the loan received from the EIB, meaning that the agreement represents a total volume of 300 million euros to finance small and medium-sized businesses in Catalonia.
The EIB is one of the ICF’s funding sources. In order to carry out its activity, the Catalan public financial entity does not depend on the budgets of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is financed mainly on the national and international markets though bank loans and debt issues.
About the European Investment Bank (EIB)
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union’s long-term financing institution; its shareholders are the EU Member States. The EIB facilitates long-term financing for viable investment projects in order to contribute to the achievement of the EU policy objectives.