The European Investment Bank (EIB) today granted a EUR 175m credit line to Banco BPI to support SME investment in Portugal. The EIB and Banco BPI are long-standing partners, particularly for operations in support of SMEs. This 16th operation is, however, a "new formula" EIB loan under the extraordinary support plan deployed by the EIB for European SMEs in response to the current financial and economic crisis.
In its determination to cushion the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy, the European Council in September 2008 asked the EIB to provide loans for SMEs totalling over EUR 30bn via commercial banks by 2011, of which at least half in 2008-2009. The EIB is poised to meet these targets as in 2008 it advanced EUR 8.1bn in credit lines for SMEs, of which EUR 588m in Portugal, and intends to cover the whole European Union in 2009.
This "new formula" credit line will enable Portuguese businesses with fewer than 250 employees to obtain loans from Banco BPI at the EIB's advantageous terms in support of their tangible and intangible investment and working capital for projects to be implemented within three years that cost a maximum of EUR 25m.
The finance contracts were signed today in Lisbon by Carlos da Silva Costa, EIB
Vice-President with responsibility inter alia for operations in Portugal, and Fernando Ulrich, Chairman of the Executive Board of Banco BPI.
At the signing ceremony, Mr Costa said: "By providing these new credit lines for financing SME investment, the EIB - in its capacity as the European Union's bank - is once again underlining the key role that SMEs play in strengthening the structural competitiveness of the European economy by fostering entrepreneurship, acting as vital links in the innovation chain, creating employment and raising the level of job qualifications".
About the EIB:
The EIB is the European Union's bank. Its remit is to advance mostly long-term loans in support of viable private or public investment projects that meet the EU's objectives of integration, cohesion and development, broken down into six priority policies: support for SMEs; economic and social cohesion; environmental protection; research and innovation; trans-European transport networks; and promotion of secure, competitive and sustainable energy. In 2008, the Bank provided finance totalling EUR 57bn in the European Union.