“I would say it’s in line with our involvement in other countries,” Plutarchos Sakellaris, EIB Vice-President responsible for Romania told Mediafax.
However, EIB data shows banks in the CEE region have accessed financing worth EUR17.5 billion in the last three years alone, mostly for on-lending to small and medium-sized companies.
“We believe that SME financing is very important for the real economy, for helping the Romanian economy coming out of the crisis and we certainly have placed a lot of emphasis on it and we continue to do so,” Sakellaris said.
Early 2009, the EIB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have launched a joint IFI Action Plan to support banks and economies in the CEE region. The three lenders initially pledged financing of EUR24.5 billion for 2009-2010, but the amount exceeded EUR33 billion due to increased demand from banks.
EIB provided loans to banks in the CEE region worth EUR15.5 billion in 2009-2010. Another EUR2 billion was made available in 2011, of which EUR125 million was accessed by Romanian banks.
The money attracted by Romanian banks accounts for little over one seventh of the total EUR917 million the EIB has invested in various local projects in 2011.
According to Sakellaris, the EIB financing to Romania will drop to around EUR600 million in 2012.