The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced it will rapidly mobilise a funding facility that may reach up to €40 billion for Cypriot and European businesses under strain from the COVID-19 pandemic.
EIB called on member-states to set up a further guarantee for SME and Midcap support from EIB Group and national promotional banks.
Funding may reach up to €40 billion can be mobilised on short notice, backed up by guarantees from the European Investment Bank Group and the European Union budget, while extra funding available for healthcare sector for emergency infrastructure and development of cures and vaccines, the bank said.
The EIB President Werner Hoyer called for significant, scalable additional guarantee from Member States to ensure access to finance for SMEs and midcaps
“Covid 19 is exacting a tragic toll in human suffering across Europe and the world. The Bank, and I personally, are close to the people hit by the contagion. The pandemic is also having a devastating economic impact which is already showing,” Hoyer said.
(Cyprus News Agency)
