CEB and ICO provide 334 million euros to support Spanish SMEs and self-employed

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and Instituto de Crédito Oficial, Entidad Pública Empresarial (ICO), signed an agreement through which the CEB grants a loan of 300 million euros to ICO to finance Spanish MSME projects.

Under this agreement, a total of 334 million euros will be made available to small and medium-sized companies and self-employed persons, as ICO will supplement the funds obtained from the CEB with 34 million euros.

The loan provided by the CEB, which ICO will channel through its “second-floor facilities”, aims to support the Spanish government’s efforts to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on Spanish SMEs. The funds will give them access to liquidity and finance their long-term investment projects and working capital needs while also enabling them to maintain their employees.

Job creation and preservation through supporting MSMEs is a priority area of financing for the CEB, particularly in the current economic context. In Spain, SMEs play a major role in the country’s non-financial business economy, as they generate 72% of total employment.

This is the fifth agreement signed between the two institutions. With the four previous agreements, the CEB and ICO provided over 2.3 billion euros to support SMEs and the self-employed and financed over 60,000 operations.

The Governor of the CEB, Rolf Wenzel, said: “In the current difficult circumstances, supporting small businesses and helping to maintain jobs is of paramount importance. The CEB is fully committed to this and the loan agreement signed today with our long-standing partner ICO is a testament to our commitment. The CEB is doing its utmost to support Spain and all other member countries through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”

Original source: CEB
Published on 23 April 2020