December 9 (SeeNews) - Romania will get a total of 660 million euro ($712 million) in loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to co-finance environment-related investments and boost economic growth, the government said.
The government approved two draft bills for framework contracts between Romania and the EIB for the programming period of 2014-2020, the cabinet said in a press release on Thursday.
Romania will allocate 300 million euro to investment under the Operational Programme for Big Infrastructure, which aims to promote the efficient use of resources by developing water, waste water and waste management infrastructure, biodiversity protection, conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems, climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management.
The remaining 360 million euro will be available for investment under the Competitiveness Operational Programme and Human Capital Operational Programme as well as sections of Operational Programme for Big Infrastructure which aim to promote clean energy and energy efficiency, to support low carbon emissions, to increase energy efficiency across the central heating system in selected cities and intelligent and sustainable energy and natural gas transport.
Both loans will be made available by December 31, 2024.
The entry into force of the two contracts and the possibility of making withdrawals from the loan are subject to Romanian parliament approval, the government added.
The loans are in line with Romania's objectives of public debt management strategy for 2016-2018, through which the finance ministry aims to continue its partnership with international financial institutions in order to benefit from favourable terms and conditions offered by these institutions.
($=0.9267 euro)