Spain: EIB provides EUR 600m in financing to renew road transport fleets and agricultural vehicles

• This is the second time the EIB has granted financing under the Environmental Incentive Plans (PIMA)
• Total financing of EUR 1.2bn will be provided via Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Banco Santander, BBVA, Banco Popular and Banco Sabadell

This morning, the European Investment Bank (EIB) confirmed the signing of several loans totalling EUR 600m to finance the renewal of road transport fleets and agricultural vehicles in the presence of the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Rafael Catalá Polo, and the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina. This is the second operation of this type to be drawn up by the EIB. In 2015, the EU bank signed another set of loans totalling EUR 450m, with the funds being rapidly deployed due to high demand for the product from SMEs. This year's financing represents an increase of EUR 150m.

The operation was put together as part of the Environmental Incentive Plans (PIMA) and will provide EUR 1.2bn to SMEs and midcaps (up to 3 000 employees), with the EIB providing half of this amount.

To access these funds, interested companies should contact one of the financial institutions taking part in the second round of this fleet renewal credit line and offering this finance. Over the course of this year, the EIB has signed three loans of EUR 150m each with ICO, Banco Santander and BBVA, a EUR 100m loan with Banco Popular and a EUR 50m loan with Banco Sabadell.

The EIB's support for the renewal of road transport fleets and tractors has two goals. This first of these goals is environmental: providing cash to companies so that the oldest professional road transport and agricultural vehicles (trucks, buses, vans and tractors) can be replaced with less polluting and more environmentally-friendly alternatives.

The second is to support job creation, helping Spanish SMEs and midcaps to be more competitive, enabling them to replace their machinery and transport fleets with newer and more efficient versions. 

During the signing ceremony, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano highlighted the positive influence these EIB loans will have in “two very important sectors of the Spanish economy: transport and agriculture. This new loan will enable Spanish SMEs to renew their road transport or agricultural vehicles, delivering a clear environmental and competitive impact for these companies.”