Xinhua, Brussels :
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group in 2013 significantly increased its financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of the European economy, the Bank said Wednesday.
The EIB said in a statement that the EIB Group significantly stepped up its financial support in 2013, with financing up to 75.1 billion euros (103 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 37 percent year-on-year.
The financing amount that the EIB Group, comprising the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, provided within the European Union was 67.1 billion euros last year, with an increase of 42 percent compared to 2012.
In 2013, the EIB signed loans worth 18.5 billion euros for SMEs and mid-caps, while at the same time the European Investment Fund committed EUR 3.4 billion.
“Our SME support became our largest policy contribution, amounting to EUR 21.9 billion. This is an all-time high!” EIB Group President Werner Hoyer was quoted as saying in the statement.
This effort allowed the Group, together with private investment partners, to mobilize more than 50 billion euros to support SMEs.
