OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2011. Energy savings programmes in Lithuanian cities will get a further boost from a loan agreement signed between the European Investment Bank (EIB), as manager of the JESSICA holding fund in Lithuania, and the country’s largest commercial bank, SEB, reported the press-centre of SEB.

The loan agreement between the JESSICA holding fund and SEB was signed by Eva Srejber, EIB Vice-President, and Aivaras Cicelis, Vice-President of SEB Bank in Lithuania.

SEB will provide modernisation loans for energy efficiency investments in multi-apartment buildings for a total amount of EUR 6 million (over LTL 20 million). Apartment owners can apply for 20-year loans with low and fixed interest rates which must be used for energy efficiency investments. These investments potentially allow for a significant reduction in energy consumption and thus enable considerable savings on energy bills.

The Lithuanian government’s JESSICA holding fund, managed by the EIB, was established by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environment of Lithuania in June of 2009 as an effective way of deploying EU Structural Funds for energy efficiency investments. The initial capital committed by the Lithuanian government to the JESSICA holding fund is EUR 227 million. This is one of the largest and one of the first JESSICA holding funds established. It is the first such fund to have disbursed money to intermediaries, and is the first one where money has reached renovation projects.