>@EIB/Banco Popular

The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed this morning a EUR 150 million loan to Banco Popular to finance investment by small Spanish businesses in the farming and agri-food sector.

The aim is promote investments that help to improve the sector’s efficiency and competitiveness, including by introducing more accurate watering systems to optimise water consumption and more ecological agricultural production methods to reduce the environmental impact.

EIB Vice-President Román Escolano stressed the loan’s importance to “a highly important sector of Spain’s economy: agrifood. The EIB finance will contribute to improving the competitiveness of firms in the sector and creating jobs”.