The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's financing institution, has signed the first tranche of an EUR 100 million (NLG 220 million) (1) global loan (2) with the Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG) for financing public infrastructure projects, including health and education projects in the Netherlands. This global loan will allow the borrower to offer final beneficiaries terms and conditions it can only achieve thanks to this alternative source of financing.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten, based in The Hague, is specialized in financing infrastructure projects promoted by local authorities and investments by housing corporations, utilities, health and social care institutions, universities and schools. BNG has already deployed EIB global loans in the past and this new operation will allow to further intensify the cooperation between the two financial institutions.

During the last five years (1996-2000), the EIB has signed loan agreements in the Netherlands worth more than EUR 2 billion, of which over EUR 700 million in the form of global loans for intermediary banks, including BNG.

The AAA-rated European Investment Bank (EIB), the financial arm of the European Union, contributes by means of its long-term loans towards the integration and balanced development of its Member States as well as in countries outside the Union. In addition to large projects, the EIB has financed small and medium-sized public and private investments through credit lines (Global Loans) to financial intermediaries. 


(1) 1 EUR = NLG 2.20371

(2) Global loans are credit lines from the EIB to banks and other financial institutions within and outside the European Union, used to finance projects of a modest scale undertaken by small and medium-sized companies or local authorities. The EIB currently has loan agreements of this kind in the EU with over 120 banks, which are all in close contact with and have a thorough knowledge of local businesses and public bodies. Last year, EIB finance under global loan arrangements has amounted to some EUR 5.7 billion for 27 000 SMEs. In the last five years, the EIB financed EUR over 10 billion in infrastructure schemes promoted by local authorities and, since autumn 1997, EUR 1.2 billion in the education and health sectors.