The European Investment Bank provides a EUR 100 million Global Loan to PKO Bank Polski to finance projects of small and medium-scale enterprises and municipalities in Poland.
The loan will serve for co-financing of small and medium-sized projects in the areas of environmental protection, energy and energy savings, infrastructure including health care and education facilities infrastructure, industry, services covering especially projects in the area of tourism, as well as projects carried out by small and medium-size enterprises.
EIB Global Loans have been developed as a successful tool in providing long-term EIB funds for financing smaller projects implemented by the SME sector or by municipalities under favourable conditions. The present Global Loan is the first one granted to the PKO Bank Polski and will further strengthen the EIB's co-operation with local banks in the New Member States. This will contribute to a better service and an improvement in financing terms for the final beneficiaries.
The Global Loans represent special credit lines to selected partner banks operating in the individual countries. This financial scheme is used by the EIB to finance small and medium-size projects with a total investment higher than EUR 40 000 and less than EUR 25 million. EIB partner banks assess each project, assume the credit risk and set the loan conditions for the final beneficiary. Interested investors should address their partner bank directly.
Mr. Thomas HACKETT, Deputy Director General, who signed the loan stated: "The EIB is pleased to sign its first global loan with PKO Bank Polski, the largest bank in Poland. In line with EU priorities we support financing of the SME sector which plays a very significant role in creating jobs and developing the economy, particularly so in the less-developed areas of Poland.
The EIB, as the European Union's long-term financing institution, has provided more than EUR 7.4 billion for projects in Poland since 1990. The major share of the EIB loans was directed to the infrastructure sector (approximately 55 % of the total lending in the country representing EUR 4.1 billion), followed environment and water sectors (EUR 1.5 billion) and the above-mentioned global loans.
Generally, in the New Member States of Central Europe, the EIB has lent more than EUR 25 billion to projects since 1990. Therefore, the EIB is the most important external source of finance for Central and Eastern Europe.