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SPAIN: Instituto de Crédito Oficial and the Council of Europe Development Bank expand funding for SMEs

4 December 2013

Spain-ICOMADRID - The Chairman of Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Mr Román Escolano, and the Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Mr Rolf Wenzel, today signed a Framework Loan Agreement for a EUR 300 million loan aimed at financing eligible productive investment projects and related working capital requirements in SMEs.

Approved at the November 2013 meeting of the CEB’s Administrative Council in Paris, the CEB loan will be used by ICO to provide financing – through accredited financial intermediaries such as commercial banks, savings banks and leasing companies – for the acquisition by SMEs of fixed assets/productive equipment such as office and production premises, installations, machinery and equipment and vehicles.

As Spain’s public development financial institution, ICO plays a key role in supporting access to medium and long-term financing for Spanish SMEs.

In the current difficult context in Spain, this substantial loan – representing the second co-operation framework between ICO and the CEB – will especially target the lower segment of the Spanish SME market, thereby contributing to its ability to grow and to create and/or preserve jobs.

In the last ten years, the CEB's Administrative Council has approved 32 projects in Spain amounting to EUR 2.5 billion.


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