The EIB signed new loan contracts for EUR981 million, while the EIF committed EUR329 million in three equity, 13 guarantee and three microfinance operations. The amounts committed by the EIB Group will benefit some 8,800 small businesses, companies that are supporting approximately 200,000 jobs in Romania, it said.
The EIB Group support in 2018 represented some 0.64% of Romania’s GDP and the country ranks 11th among EU member states in terms of volume of EIB Group activities. An increasing part of the EIB Group’s financing in Romania was made possible by the Investment Plan for Europe, launched in 2015. Under this plan, the EIB provides financing backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), as well as advice via the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH). By end-2018, the EIB Group had approved EUR652 million worth of projects backed by EFSI guarantees, triggering potential investments of EUR2.66 billion.
Last year the EU Bank provided a EUR68 million loan to white goods producer Arctic to finance the construction of a large-scale innovative washing machine production plant, and signed a EUR50 million first tranche of a EUR150 million loan with Transgaz to support a new pipeline to link Romania’s natural gas resources on the shores of the Black Sea.
The EIB lent EUR10 million to Radiocom to support the roll-out of a digital TV broadcasting network and EUR150 million to Warehouses De Pauw to finance the construction of warehouses in Romania’s convergence regions.
The bank supported the projects of innovative companies to foster research and development, and to introduce innovative production technologies in Romania: EUR7 million to finance the development of an innovative and sustainable European car industry and EUR3 million to Cikautxo Group to finance the RDI and capital expenditures of this automotive company at existing facilities in Romania.
In 2018 the EIB provided a EUR450 million loan to Romania to finance the implementation of the Romanian Rural Development Program and granted EUR14 million to the municipality of Oradea to finance improvements to its urban infrastructure.
It provided a EUR12 million loan to finance the first investment program of Bucharest Sector 5 for the energy efficiency of residential buildings. Approximately 100 buildings are being refurbished. It is expected to result in heating energy savings of around 50% for the buildings concerned.
It also concluded EUR217 million worth of intermediated lending with five EIB partner financing institutions, further improving the access of Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and municipalities to EIB financing to support local infrastructure, environmental protection, energy, R&D and innovation, and services, including tourism. Some 3,000 SME and mid-cap projects are estimated to benefit from EIB loans in Romania, supporting about 130,000 jobs.