May 23 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) supported the opening of 270,000 jobs in Serbia through its cooperation with commercial banks in the country in the last 10 years, the EIB head for the Western Balkans, Dubravka Negre, has said.
EIB also supported about 5,300 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia in the last ten years through its loan guarantee programmes which reduce the risk for commercial lenders, Negre said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug on Tuesday.
"The guarantee programmes aim to enable commercial banks to lend money under better conditions, but also to increase the time for the repayment of the loans," Negre said.
Last week, during the Western Balkans Summit in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the European Investment Fund (EIF) signed guarantee agreements for a total amount of 180 million euro ($211 million) with Credit Agricole Banka Srbija and UniCredit Bank Serbia to support SMEs in the country.
EIB has been active in the Western Balkans for over four decades, and since 2007 it has provided finance worth 7.5 billion euro for projects in the region.
($ = 0.853695 euro)