EIB Group invests €55 million in Slovakia in 2022 and continues to support its businesses

• The European Investment Bank Group invested €55 million in 2022 to support mostly Slovak businesses.
• The EIB also provided advisory services to private and public counterparts  
• Since 1992, the EIB has invested €9.7 billion across key economic sectors.

The European Investment Bank Group, which consists of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), lent €55 million in 2022 for two operations in the Slovak Republic supporting climate action, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and balanced regional development in Slovakia.

At end-2022, EIB lending in Slovakia stood at €3.9 billion, which represents 4% of Slovakia’s 2021 GDP and mirrors fruitful longstanding cooperation with the European Investment Bank and a strong local presence in transport, urban infrastructure and the SME sector. Between 2018 and 2022, the EU bank supported some 2 140 small and medium-sized firms, sustaining around 71 000 jobs.

EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova, in charge of operations in Slovakia, said: “The EIB Group is committed to remaining a stable partner for Slovakia even in times of crisis, responding to the needs of the Slovak economy. Last year our efforts aimed to support companies in their growth, development and provision of jobs. Our excellent longstanding cooperation with SG Equipment Finance (SGEF) and UniCredit Leasing Slovakia (UCL) enables us to support the country on its path to sustainable investments, boost research and digital innovation, and provide our expertise to the public and private sectors. We have created a flagship model for cooperation which includes technical support in setting up climate action credit lines. We are very interested in replicating this model of cooperation across the banking sector in Slovakia so that we can do more for national economies and global climate action while addressing urgent challenges like the energy crisis generated by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”

The EIB has provided a €45 million loan to SG Equipment Finance and a €10 million loan to UniCredit Leasing Slovakia. These operations support small businesses and mid-caps and have unlocked more accessible sources of long-term financing for liquidity needs, thereby protecting and creating jobs and promoting climate action. Complementing this financing, the EIB also provides its financial intermediaries, such as SGEF, with advisory support to enhance the climate component of their loan portfolio. The Green Gateway programme (under the InvestEU Advisory Hub) is designed to strengthen the capacity of financial institutions in the origination, monitoring and reporting of green loans, and in terms of climate product development. Through this programme, the EIB provides SGEF with targeted bilateral advisory service (including training and on-the-job support), support on green eligibility screening and climate impact assessment of projects via the online portal — EIB Green Eligibility Checker (https://greenchecker.eib.org/).

EIB advisory services aid Slovakia in attracting faster, sustainable investments

EIB advisory services are mainly provided in Slovakia via the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions (JASPERS) and European Local Energy Assistance (ELENA) programmes and the EIB Advisory Hub. In 2022, these advisory services continued to significantly bolster the country’s public and private sectors. EIB advisory services has 37 active assignments in the country. In 2022, EIB advisory services took on seven new assignments — all under JASPERS.

Climate change and environment are currently the main priorities for advisory services provided to Slovakia, both with specific actions and horizontally across sectors at the planning, programming and project levels. Priority sectors for intervention and support include sustainable mobility and development of the TEN-T network: in the transport sector, JASPERS supported the preparation of all of the major projects financed with EU funds in the 2014-2020 programming period (for example, modernisation of the Zilina railway hub, extension of the tram line to Petrzalka in Bratislava, the Budimir-Bidovce D1 motorway project), and is now also set to support the main projects and strategic studies for the 2021-2027 programming period.

JASPERS’ assistance in Slovakia also covers Just Transition, energy efficiency, social infrastructure, urban regeneration, smart development, circular economy, waste and water investments, including project preparation support to the Cassovia New Industry Cluster in the area of Kosice and advisory services for Slovakia’s telecommunications sector in terms of feasibility studies under the National Broadband Development Plan. In the energy sector, JASPERS assisted the Slovak authorities in identifying, preparing and appraising investments to replace coal for district heat generation in the Novaky and Prievidza areas.

The EIB’s ELENA facility provided a €1.4 million technical assistance grant to support the energy-efficiency renovation of 55 public buildings, eight street lighting systems and the installation of photovoltaics in the Kosice Region (Košický samosprávny kraj). The EIB Advisory Hub continued to provide advisory support in transport, social and affordable housing, energy efficiency and other priority sectors, while successfully collaborating with Slovak Investment Holding.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) finances projects in four priority areas — infrastructure, innovation, climate and environment, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since the beginning of its lending operations in Slovakia in 1992, the EIB has invested €9.7 billion across key economic sectors — including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), transport, infrastructure and energy. One of the EIB’s main activities in Slovakia is to help small businesses and improve their access to long-term financing by creating credit lines with local financial institutions. 

A subsidiary of the EIB, the European Invest Fund (EIF) is Europe’s largest venture capital and private equity financier. The European Investment Fund is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its core mission is to foster access to finance across Europe. The EIF supports financial intermediaries with a broad range of financial products – and thus encourages banks to lend, funds to invest and private investment to crowd in, creating a sustainable financing ecosystem for Europe. Whether for micro enterprises, small, medium-sized companies, mid-caps, individuals, or infrastructure projects, the EIF provides a wide range of solutions that also pursue key EU policy objectives including competitiveness & growth, innovation, social impact, skills & human capital, sustainability & green transformation and more.

EIB Global finances sound investment contributing to EU policy goals, including a global just transition to climate neutrality. The European Investment Fund (EIF) is a subsidiary of the EIB and Europe’s largest venture capital and private equity financier. At a press conference held in Brussels on 2 February 2023, the EIB Group unveiled a new logo, which aligns its corporate branding and visual identity with that of the other EU institutions and bodies. The new logo is based on two main elements: the European flag and a graphic element representing the silhouette of the EIB Group’s headquarters in Luxembourg.