TIRANA (Albania), December 11 (SeeNews) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending 10 million euro ($14.8 million) to Albania's Tirana Bank to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Balkan country, EIB said on Friday.
This is EIB’s first loan for SMEs in Albania and will finance small and medium-scale projects in industry, infrastructure improvements, environmental protection, health and education, energy efficiency and services, including tourism, EIB said in a statement.
A minimum of 70% of the loan will be allocated to the SMEs sector. The EIB funding will cover up to 100% of the investment cost of projects implemented by SMEs.
"[...] the EIB requires that the intermediary, Tirana Bank, grows its total SME portfolio by double the amount of the EIB loan," EIB said. Thus, some 20 million euro should be invested in Albania to boost the economy and help the country’s progress towards economic recovery, it added.
The EIB has financed several projects in Albania in particular in the energy and transport sectors, totalling 200 million euro over the 2001-2009 period.
($ = 0.6774 euro)
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