European Investment Bank lends EUR 50 mln to Romania's BCR

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Romanian lender Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) recently signed a further EUR 50 million loan agreement to finance projects for small and medium-sized enterprises, midcap companies and public entities in Romania, the two banks announced. This brings the total EIB loans for BCR to some EUR 300 million.

The EIB loan will co-finance projects contributing towards regional development and the productivity of SMEs and midcap companies in Romania involved in industry and services. “Energy efficiency investments carried out by SMEs will also receive grant support from the European Commission (EC) under the SME Finance Facility Energy Efficiency Window, which provides for cooperation between the EIB and the EC to reduce CO2 emissions in construction and industry,” according to the bank. Since 2000, BCR has been involved in supporting Romanian SMEs, having financed so far over 10,000 such projects, for which the total co-financing value surpasses EUR 1 billion. The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), a member of the Erste Group, is the largest bank in Romania assets-wise, over EUR 16 billion. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: BCR)