<p> PRESS RELEASE BEI/14/121 Luxembourg, 28 May 2014</p><p>EIB and ICO renew support for SMEs in agrifood sector with EUR 600 million loan</p><p>The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a EUR 600 million loan to the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) to improve access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses in the Spanish farming and agrifood sectors. Under the agreement, ICO will match the EIB loan with an additional EUR 600 million, meaning that total financing of EUR 1 200 million will be made available.</p><p>The loans will serve to finance new projects and/or the working capital requirements of small and independent agrifood businesses.</p><p>This is the second operation mounted by the EIB and ICO to boost the farming sector. A first EUR 150 million loan was signed in September 2013, with ICO contributing the same amount. The EUR 300 million committed was fully disbursed and financed 5 374 projects.</p><p>With this new operation, the EIB is continuing to work together with ICO to finance small Spanish businesses. The loan comes on top of the EUR 1 075 million already provided in 2014. In 2013, the EIB granted loans totalling EUR 1 650 million to ICO.</p><p>Background information</p><p>The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.</p><p>The Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) is a state-owned bank with the legal structure of a public sector company, attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competitiveness via the State Secretariat for Economy and Enterprise Support. From a legal point of view it is a credit institution, and it is treated as a State Finance Agency. As a state-owned bank, ICO grants loans to finance companies’ investment projects and liquidity needs, both within and beyond Spain, either through financial entities or directly. In addition, as the State Finance Agency, it manages the official financing instruments that the Spanish government deploys to promote exports and provide development aid.</p><p>Press contacts</p><p>Matilde del Valle, +352 4379 83154, [email protected] Website: www.eib.org/press - Press desk: +352 4379 21000 – [email protected] </p>