The European Investment Bank (EIB) loaned €1.8 billion to a series of investments schemes in the Middle East in 2002. Some €180 million was disbursed to small and medium size enterprises (SME)s under EIB Global Lines of Credit in Turkey, which leveraged some €600 million of new investment from other sources and led to the creation of more than 6,000 new jobs.
In addition, EIB facilitated the financing of a Toyota factory in Turkey, and cement plants in Algeria and Tunisia and long-term credit lines for some forty financial intermediaries in the Mediterranean Partner Countries to strengthen the equity base of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and support private investment projects.
Private-sector financing accounted for more than 30 percent of project approvals in 2002. In Tunisia, the Bank has disbursed €100 million to SMEs over the past few years, helping to catalyze some 400 million of new investment and to create more than 3,000 jobs.
Moreover, during the six months to end of March, some €1.5 billion was approved by the EIB’s Board for cross-section investments in Human Capital Development in Jordan, substantial support for private SMEs in Tunisia and Turkey, Urban Transport Development in Turkey, Risk Capital in Algeria, as well as a number of projects in the Energy, Transport Communications and the Environment in Morocco, and a large LNG project in the energy sector in Egypt.
The second meeting of the Policy Dialogue and Coordination Committee (PDCC) of the new Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) took place in Istanbul on Thursday. Its purpose was to evaluate progress and discuss FEMIP’s future prospects, since the inaugural session of the PDCC, held this past October in Barcelona. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
