The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 50 million to VB Leasing Polska SA to finance projects of micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Poland.

The EIB line of credit provided to VB Leasing Polska SA will finance small-scale projects in the fields of industry, services or tourism promoted by SMEs, including micro-enterprises. Under this loan VB Leasing Polska SA is expected to benefit from the SME Finance Facility representing a special scheme promoted by the EU Phare Programme. Its objective is to increase financing for the smaller segment of the SME market through providing EIB partner banks and leasing companies with incentives to further develop a strong and competitive SME sector in the new Member States.

Support for the development of micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized companies is an EIB lending priority. SMEs are mostly very flexible, highly innovative and provide employment opportunities, particularly in rural and less developed regions. In Poland, the SME sector provides some 45% of all employment opportunities and contributes with approximately 60% to the GDP creation.

To increase the access of Polish SMEs and micro-enterprises to long term financing, the EIB closely cooperates with well-established financial institutions having a local market expertise, especially in providing the services to small and medium entrepreneurs through a well-developed network of branches. The loan to VB Leasing Polska SA is the first EIB loan of this kind granted to this financial institution and it will increase the number of financial intermediaries on-lending EIB funds in Poland to thirteen.

The prime objective of the EIB, the European Union's long term financing institution, is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States by financing sound investment.

Totally, the EIB has provided about EUR 2.1 billion for implementation of smaller projects (from EUR 40,000 to EUR 25 million) of SMEs and municipalities in Poland. This represents some 15% of the overall EIB lending in the country amounting totally to EUR 13 billion since 1990.