Ljubljana/Luxembourg – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is ready to help Slovenia financially after the Covid-19 crisis, EIB vice-president Lilyana Pavlova told the press on Friday. Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj stressed the importance of investment for post-epidemic recovery.
The EIB has been active in Slovenia since 1977 and in this period it has allocated more than EUR 7 billion for various projects, Pavlova noted. In the last decade alone, it has invested over EUR 3.7 billion to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructural projects.
Despite the coronavirus crisis, 2020 was a very good year for partnership with Slovenia, according to Pavlova. The EIB group approved EUR 254 million in financing to the country last year, including EUR 33 million through the European Investment Fund (EIF) and EUR 221 million through the EU’s in-house bank, which is 20% more than in 2019.