The European Investment Bank (EIB) has already activated the first 3,600 million in soft credits for Spain provided for in the addendum to the Recovery Plan, as announced yesterday by its president Nadia Calviño. The EIB itself will contribute 2,700 million and another 900 million will be provided by the European Investment Fund (EIF). This is an initial section of the resilience fund that has a total of 20,000 million in loans for investments in energy and digital transition that will be distributed among the autonomous communities. The former first vice-president warned, however, that in order to channel aid it is “important” to approve the general budgets for 2024.
As Calviño explained, the fact that Spain has public accounts in force would be important so that the credits offered in better conditions than those on the market reach companies and administrations in a context of high interest rates. The budgets “are the instrument to be able to channel European funds, they were in 2022 and 2023; and now, in this phase, they determine the framework for deploying the aid”, he assured. Government sources yesterday disagreed with this position and stated that, in the event of not being able to approve budgets, other formulas would be found to be able to confirm that the BEI loans reach the territories.
Calviño set out his plans to promote the entity he chairs as Spain’s sustainable financial arm. In 2023, the BEI Group (the same bank and the EIF) again signed financing in Spain for 11,400 million – 0.78% of GDP -. It was 14% more than in 2022.
Calviño defined the EIB as “the green bank” of Europe, since more than 50% of its investments finance investments in the energy transition. In Spain, last year the EIB invested 6,700 million in these projects, a historic figure, which helped companies such as Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy or El Corte Inglés, among others, according to the president.
By 2024, the EIB’s managing director, Jean-Christophe Laloux, predicted that financial aid for companies and national administrations could be even higher. Although the EIB expects a reduction in interest rates in the second half of the year, “we see that our clients continue to face a situation of uncertainty”, he indicated. “Wait or invest now?” it is the dilemma that Laloux has exposed that his clients convey to them. Guaranteeing investment is the EIB’s “strong point”, he added. “We are a solid partner and we offer them our very long-term financing.”
Calviño set the five investment priorities of the EIB for this year with the aim of “being an attractive financing option”: climate transition, support for digitization, SMEs and startups, sustainable transport and urban mobility, and investment in social infrastructure”.
At Community level, the EIB signed financing worth 87,850 million during the past year. Almost 50 billion went to support green investments.