The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a EUR 500 million loan to the Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO) for financing capital projects promoted by SMEs in Spain. The finance contract was signed this morning in Madrid by EIB Vice-President Carlos Costa and ICO's Chairman Aurelio Martinez.

At the signing ceremony, the EIB Vice-President stressed the importance of the cooperation between ICO and the EIB. Both public institutions  one Spanish, one EU are pulling out all the stops to ease small businesses access to credit in the face of the global financial crisis.

This credit line is designed to support SME projects mainly in the industrial, tourism and service sectors. As an innovative feature, it may be used to finance not only traditional investment in fixed assets, but also investment in the intangibles that are essential to companies growth such as RDI or the creation of distribution networks.

This loan comes under the heading of the EIBs SME support policy of helping small firms gain access to credit by increasing flexibility, simplifying procedures, and in return requiring greater transparency from intermediary banks, which must clearly inform their customers of the way in which the EIB funds improve their lending terms by allowing longer maturities, more flexible disbursement conditions and lower interest rates.

The EIB is the EU's long-term financing institution promoting European objectives. Founded in 1958, it operates in the 27 EU Member States and more than 130 other countries worldwide. Support for European SMEs is an EU objective and therefore one of the EIB's investment priorities.