The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's long-term financing institution, has made available a loan for 36 million euro (6 billion pesetas) to Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) and its subsidiary Grupo de Empresas del Mediterráneo S.A. (GRUPOMED) towards financing small and medium-scale investment projects carried out by SMEs and local authorities.

This is the first global loan (essentially a line of credit) advanced by the EIB to this institution, which has its head office in Alicante and more than 600 branches throughout the Levante region (Spain's east coast), chiefly in the Provinces of Alicante and Murcia. Both provinces contain a large number of dynamic SMEs operating in a very wide range of sectors. CAM can therefore boast a wealth of experience in appraising projects mounted by firms in the industrial, agricultural processing, service and tourism sectors which will be the final beneficiaries under this operation.

Funds from the global loan may also be channelled to projects undertaken by local authorities in health, education and urban renewal, with particular emphasis on education.

The EIB was founded in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community, with the aim of fostering enhanced integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion in the Member States by providing long-term financing for capital investment furthering attainment of European Union objectives.To support small and medium-scale projects, the EIB makes use of its global loan facility, devised by the Bank in 1968. Global loans are basically lines of credit opened to banks and other financial intermediaries operating at national, regional or local level, which pass on the proceeds, in the form of sub-loans, for smaller-scale investment schemes complying with the EIB's lending criteria.In response to the Amsterdam Resolution on Growth and Employment of June 1997, the EIB's Board of Governors approved extension of the Bank's areas of operation to include health, education, urban renewal and environmental protection, as well as programmes specifically targeting SMEs. These are priority sectors which both strengthen economic and social cohesion within the European Union and help to create stable jobs.


Conversion rates used by the EIB: EUR 1 = 166.386 ESP, 0.705455 GBP.