The European Investment Bank (EIB) granted a global loan (credit line) of € 30 million to Hansapank (Estonia) for financing small and medium-scale projects in industry, tourism and other services, environmental protection, energy saving, as well as health, education and other infrastructure undertaken mainly by SMEs and local government. Hansapank and its subsidiaries in Latvia and Lithuania may use the funds to finance projects with total investment ranging from € 40,000 to € 25 million in the region.

Favourable terms and conditions such as flexible currency and cash flows structures should further enhance Hansapank's liquidity position enabling it offer competitive long-term financing on a growing scale. Hansapank will apply its standard credit analysis and approval procedures to individual loan applications.

The new global loan to Hansapank is an important step in EIB's strategy to substantially raise its support for SMEs and smaller scale infrastructure in the Central European Accession Countries. It brings the total amount of EIB financing in the form of global loans in the Baltic Accession Countries to € 190 million of which nearly half is being channelled through Hansapank.

Commenting on the strong development of EIB lending to SMEs in the Baltic Accession Countries, EIB Vice-President Wolfgang Roth said: 'For forty years we have worked closely with selected banks inside the EU to bring EIB finance to smaller-scale projects. As many of these banks are now present with subsidiaries in the Accession Countries, we systematically cooperate with them for channelling similarly advantageous funds to SMEs and local authorities in the Accession countries.'

The EIB was set up in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome to lend to projects furthering European integration. While strengthening weaker EU regions has always been its main goal, the Bank also lends to projects outside the European Union under the Union's co-operation policy toward third countries. Since 1990, some € 17.5 billion were lent to projects in the ten Central European countries that have applied for EU membership. Owned by the Member States, the EIB raises the bulk of its funds on the capital markets worldwide where its bonds regularly obtain the best 'AAA' credit rating. In the Baltic States and the other Accession Countries, the EIB finances large projects with direct loans and smaller schemes through global loans, using the network of more than thirty partner banks. EIB has already committed € 2.3 billion in the form of global loans for financing SMEs and small infrastructure projects in the ten Accession countries, which represents 13% of the Bank's total commitments in the region.