€3.4bn for business, innovation, agriculture and tourism

The Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank approved a total of €3.4 billion of new financing that will strengthen research and innovation and enable companies to expand and improve access to water, transport, and education. This will support new projects in 17 countries.
The EIB will support innovation and combat climate change with a €820 million loan, while €2 billion are agreed to support new investment by small and medium sized companies.This will help create new projects, include dedicated credit lines to ensure that companies in vulnerable sectors can grow, and financing reaches programmes that target the specific investment challenges faced by female entrepreneurs, farmers, firms involved in the circular economy.

Financing for five projects approved by the EIB board will be guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments. This is expected to support overall investment totaling more than €2.8 billion.