OREANDA-NEWS. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) have agreed a EUR 500 million loan to support the projects of SMEs and midcaps with the aim of fostering economic growth and job creation. The finance contract was signed this morning in Luxembourg by EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and ICO’s CEO, Emma Navarro.

At the signing ceremony, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano stressed “the importance of small business support operations like this, which are essential to promoting economic growth and job creation in Spain”. He went on to say that “this operation represents a further demonstration of the excellent cooperation between the EIB and ICO in support of such firms”

ICO’s CEO, Emma Navarro, underlined “the close cooperation between the two institutions and the EIB’s support for ICO’s credit lines for SMEs in Spain”. She also emphasised “ICO’s commitment to the Investment Plan for Europe, and the need to develop new products to take advantage of all the opportunities provided by the plan”.

The EUR 500 million EIB loan will be used to finance the long-term investment projects and working capital needs of SMEs and midcaps (firms with up to 3 000 employees). Under this operation a total of EUR 1 billion will be made available to small and medium-sized companies, as ICO will match the EIB loan with the same amount. The EIB funds will provide small businesses and the self-employed with credit on advantageous interest rate and maturity terms.