EIB supports SMEs in Austria

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €100 million global loan to Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich (RLB OÖ) to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) invest, focusing particularly on climate action and innovation projects and on sustainability.

A portion of the funds will also go towards promoting investments in companies with female leaders. The idea behind this comes from an EU pilot project in the banking sector that aims to enhance women’s participation in management.

“Supporting SMEs is one of the EU bank’s priorities. These are the businesses that create jobs and that drive the economy. In the challenging economic environment we find ourselves in today, it is vitally important that we give SMEs access to fresh funding,” said Andrew McDowell, the EIB Vice-President responsible for Austria.

EIB also hopes that through this collaboration, it can help enhance the role of women in Austrian SMEs. This €100 million loan comes on top of several other agreements concluded between RLB OÖ and the EIB in the past.

Original source: EIB
Published on 24 June 2020