April 30 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group provided 570 million euro ($639 million) of new loans, guarantees and equity investment to Croatia in 2018, with a focus on transport, energy and social sectors, the lender said on Tuesday.
The financing provided to Croatia by the EIB Group, which consists of the EIB and its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund (EIF), reached 0.98% of the country's GDP, it said in a statement.
EIB lending in Croatia last year reached 444 million euro through six projects related to investments in the service sector and tourism infrastructure, green energy projects, composite infrastructure, as well as supercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili.
In 2018 EIB signed 196.5 million euro of new investments under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a 21 billion euro guarantee programme introduced by the Investment Plan for Europe (Juncker Plan). This has brought the total amount of investments related to EFSI approvals in Croatia to 997.6 million euro.
The EIF invested 63 million euro in 262 small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-caps in Croatia last year, thus supporting 3,372 jobs, while.
The EIB is a the long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU) owned by its member states.
($ = 0.891915 euro)