Lenihan Welcomes EIB's SME Funding Facility

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, Ireland

01 December 2008

Ireland's Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, met Plutarchos Sakellaris, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), on Thursday to sign a number of loan agreements with relevant bodies.

Lenihan welcomed the important contribution that the EIB has made over the years to financing productive investment in both the public and private sectors in Ireland and he looked forward to this continuing in the years ahead. The minister welcomed in particular the recently-announced EIB facility for small and medium enterprises in the EU, which will see a total of EUR30bn made available through banks to SMEs from now until 2011.

According to Lenihan, the new facility represents a significant increase in the EIB's commitment to providing funding for SMEs, which are a critical element in the European economy in general and in smaller economies such as Ireland’s in particular.

Sakellaris confirmed that the EIB has been in discussion with a number of Irish financial institutions who had expressed an interest in participating in the facility and that the EIB hopes that agreements to provide such loan facilities can be finalised as soon as possible.

Lenihan once again urged Irish banks to utilise the facility to the maximum extent possible with a view to making the additional funding available to SMEs as soon as possible.

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