The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a EUR 50 million loan agreement with Bankia for financing small and medium-sized Spanish firms in the farming and agrifood sectors. Bankia will match the EIB funding with the same amount, meaning that a total of EUR 100 million will be made available to such businesses.

Agricultural and agrifood firms throughout Spain that meet the EIB’s priority environmental protection and natural resource efficiency objectives will be eligible for this EIB financing via Bankia.

This loan forms part of a dedicated product for financing small businesses in the farming and agrifood sectors in Spain (the Loan for Agricultural SMEs). The first operation was approved in 2013, and following its successful implementation and the channelling of the approved amounts to SMEs, it was repeated. The loan signed with Bankia is the fourth facility of this kind and brings the amount provided this year to EUR 650 million. In four years the EIB has pumped a total of EUR 2.250 billion worth of loans into the Spanish market in support of the sectors’ SMEs. The goal is to enable them to grow and create jobs by making them more competitive and to help reduce their environmental impact by making them more energy efficient.