OREANDA-NEWS. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR - Hrvatska banka za obnovu i razvitak) signed in Zagreb today a EUR 250 million loan to support the projects of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The EIB was represented by Dario Scannapieco, Vice-President responsible for operations in Croatia, and HBOR by Du?an Toma?evi?, President of the Managing Board, and Goran Filipi?, Member of the Managing Board.

This is the second part of a credit line for SMEs totalling EUR 500 million, aimed at underpinning the country’s economic recovery after several years of recession; the first EUR 250 million tranche advanced to HBOR, which is owned 100% by the Republic of Croatia, was signed in 2014.

The loan will help to implement projects in the areas of industry, services and tourism and other priority sectors. It forms part of the EIB’s “Jobs for Youth Initiative”, under which the EIB and HBOR will provide additional support to final beneficiaries if they can demonstrate that their investment project financed under the facility has contributed to the creation of jobs for young people.

“This operation reaffirms our commitment to support the Croatian economy and also strengthens our well-established cooperation with HBOR. On the basis of the EIB-HBOR partnership, more than EUR 2 billion of new resources have been channelled to Croatia over recent years through SME, midcap and local municipality projects,” noted Mr Scannapieco.