Higher education, water distribution, energy efficiency and private sector investment across Romania will benefit from more than 809 million Euro of new financing from the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund agreed with Romanian public and private partners last year.

“The coronavirus pandemic made 2020 a uniquely challenging year for Romania, Europe and the whole world. The European Investment Bank Group has made a crucial contribution to helping businesses across Romania better withstand the economic challenges of COVID-19 and enabling priority higher education, health, water and energy investment to accelerate. The close cooperation between the EIB Group and Romania has transformed economic opportunities, priority infrastructure and key services in our country. The strong pipeline of future EIB and EIF engagement in Romania will build on this impressive track record,” said Alexandru Nazare, Romanian Finance Minister and Governor of the European Investment Bank.

Confirmation of the reinforced EIB Group engagement in Romania follows meetings over recent weeks with Alexandru Nazare, Romanian Finance Minister and Governor of the European Investment Bank, and Ministers responsible for Investments and European Projects, Energy and Transport.

Business investment, leasing by agriculture, manufacturing and service companies and ensuring more inclusive access to finance across Romania will be enhanced by EUR 633 million of new private sector support agreed between the EIB, EIF and leading Romanian financial partners.

This includes more flexible and increased financing for business investment, provided through local banks and financial institutions, to ensure that Romanian companies can better withstand business pressures and economic challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

New EIB support for private sector investment in Romania also included EUR 100 million backing to expand warehouse and supply chain capacity across the country and new lending programmes to ensure that entrepreneurs and socially disadvantages communities can access finance.

The EIB and EIF also backed the first ever synthetic securitisation deal in Romania that will strengthen specialist leasing finance and enable Romanian companies to upgrade manufacturing equipment and transport fleets.