EIB President Werner Hoyer is participating in the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group this week in Washington DC where he will argue that a significant stepping up of strategic investment and partnership among the world’s development banks is now underway and can make a huge difference in tackling challenges such as climate change, the forced displacement crisis and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speaking ahead of his arrival in Washington, President Hoyer said, “The EU Bank has mobilised its forces to tackle the Global Challenges that face us and to power Europe’s economic relaunch.”

“We are seeing a paradigm shift both in the European Union and globally in how we approach development and financing. But the challenges are monumental and urgent. Our own new Economic Resilience Initiative - focused on countries in the Middle East and North Africa in our Southern Neighbourhood as well as the Western Balkans- is a concrete way in which we are moving forward with solutions to support entrepreneurship and social infrastructure in countries of origin, destination and for those hosting refugees. Crucially though, we are doing this, and confronting the longer term migration challenge particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, in partnership with others.”

President Hoyer added, “At the same time we know many are looking to Europe and its institutions to reassure the global financial system that we are on track and able to deliver for its citizens and its economy in terms of new jobs and growth. It is no secret that we have more to do in terms of investments in key sectors from research, development and innovation, to education as well as in strategic infrastructure. These are the kind of investments that the European Union seeks to mobilise by using the European Fund for Strategic Investments which is an integral part of the EIB Group. Our initial studies suggest we are well on track and that strategic investment will bear fruit.”

The EIB Group is now looking at the impact of its financing in the 2013-2015 period, when a capital increase granted by the EU Member States allowed it to support a total of EUR 372 billion of investment. Its findings are that the EIB's increased capital during that time helped the EIB Group deliver an estimated additional GDP of 0.8% and additional employment of 830,000 jobs across the EU by 2017.  In the longer term, the model projects an impact by 2030 of an additional GDP of 1.1% and total additional employment of 1.4 million jobs.

The timeframe and financial scope of this evaluation are similar in magnitude to the timeframe and volume initially foreseen for the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and so provides a pointer toward the kind of methodology that could be applied to the evaluation of EFSI's impact. 

President Hoyer commented, “As the EU Bank, it’s vital for us to assess the impact of our investments in terms of their concrete contribution for citizens and so we can ensure we make financing work effectively. The projection of an additional GDP of 1.1% and an additional employment of 1.4 million jobs by 2030 is highly encouraging and also gives us a good indication of the impact we can expect from the European Fund for Strategic Investments under the Investment Plan for Europe.  We are boosting jobs and growth with an increase in our lending, which at the time was supported by the capital increase and which is supported today by EFSI.”

Useful links:

EIB Impact: http://blog.eib.org/eib-impact/

http://www.eib.org/about/key_figures/eib-impacts/index.htm  

Tackling global challenges together: http://www.eib.org/about/global-cooperation/index.htm