February 14 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank Group, comprising the European Investment Bank (EIB) and its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund (EIF), said it has provided 865 million euro ($938 million) worth of loans, guarantees, equity and microfinance operations in Romania last year.
Support to public and private sectors in the areas of industry, energy, education and services, facilitating investments of smaller companies, represented in total some 0.4% of Romania’s GDP in 2019, the EIB said in a press release on Thursday.
"Thanks to innovative financing under the EFSI guarantee, which is a core part of the Investment Plan for Europe, we financed projects targeting the development of education, water and energy infrastructure as well as investments improving food production and management," EIB Vice-President Andrew McDowell said.
In 2019, 10,200 businesses benefited from EIB operations, sustaining some 107,000 jobs in Romania.
"We acknowledge the important role of the EIB Group in supporting investment projects in Romania, from advisory to financing, for a wide range of beneficiaries," Romania's finance ministry Florin Citu said.
The EIB is a publicly owned international financial institution whose shareholders are the EU member states.
($= 0.9225 euro)