- EIB Group financing in Slovakia increases to €649 million in 2025 from €405 million the year before, marking highest amount in past five years
- Top operations in 2025 include EIB support for electricity networks and city infrastructure
- EIF strengthens Slovak small businesses and Mid-Caps
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group’s new financing in Slovakia increased 60% last year to €649 million, propelled by support for energy-network upgrades and urban development. The 2025 amount marks a rise from €405 million in 2024 and represents the EIB’s highest financing level in Slovakia over the past five years.
The sum last year included €495 million from the EIB and more than €154 from the European Investment Fund (EIF), which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Separately, the EIF in 2025 channelled €8 million to Slovakia from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) – an economic-stimulus initiative set up during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The top operation in Slovakia last year was a €350 million EIB loan to energy supplier ZSE Group to upgrade and digitalise power-distribution networks in eastern and western Slovakia including the capital Bratislava. Other highlights were two loans totalling €45 million to Bratislava and the central Slovakian Region of Banská Bystrica to support sustainable development and just transition including improvements to parks, clinics and social infrastructure.
“Last year, the EIB Group strengthened its support for Slovakia by investing in smarter energy grids, safer transport and modern infrastructure, while also improving SMEs’ access to finance” said EIB Vice‑President Marek Mora. “We remain committed to working with national and local authorities, businesses and financial institutions to ensure that investment reaches the areas where it can have the greatest impact.”
The latest annual results bring total EIB Group financing in Slovakia over the past five years to more than €2.2 billion. The sum in 2025 was equivalent to 0.5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Grid gains and urban upgrades
The EIB’s support of €350 million to ZSE last year is the largest corporate loan in Slovakia to date. The credit aims to ensure that Slovak households and businesses have a more reliable, efficient and climate‑resilient electricity system. The loan also signals the EIB Group’s strong commitment to financing the country’s private sector.
The EIB’s urban-development support included loans of €25 million to Bratislava and €20 million to Banská Bystrica – two areas with a combined population of more than 800,000. The financing also covered major transport upgrades. In addition, the EIB loan to Banská Bystrica enables it to benefit from €5 million in EU grants under an initiative – the “Public Sector Loan Facility” under the “Just Transition Mechanism” – to make the transition to climate neutrality socially and economically fair.
SME and Mid-Cap boost
For its part, the EIF in 2025 provided guarantees to Slovak financial institutions including Eximbanka, VUB, UniCredit and CSOB to enable them to extend more and better‑priced loans to SMEs and Mid‑Caps, including innovative young firms that often face greater difficulties in accessing finance.
EIF‑backed funds and guarantee schemes supported business expansion, innovation and green investments, fostering entrepreneurship and helping keep talent and economic activity in Slovakia.
These efforts are advancing the green and digital transitions, strengthen regional cohesion and build a more sustainable, competitive economy for the benefit of Slovak citizens.
Advisory assistance
The EIB Group’s activity in Slovakia in 2025 also extended to advisory services for national and regional authorities. The support helped prepare and structure projects essential for Slovakia’s green and digital transitions, urban development, social infrastructure and SME growth.
Altogether, these advisory efforts ensured that Slovakia entered the next investment cycle with stronger institutional capacity, a clearer pipeline of projects able to absorb EU funds efficiently and a reinforced partnership with the EIB Group.
Background information
The EIB Group
The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructures, the EIB Group crowds-in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium size businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilizes private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs.
In 2023, the EIF together with six member states (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund of funds to scale-up innovative startups. This initiative has already enabled the creation of 13 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 38 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital).