Brussels, 29/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced on Monday 28 September that it is to provide Hungary with €500 million, the first tranche of an approved loan of €1.5 billion to revitalise innovation and the economy.
The loan will co-finance priority projects receiving support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) within the 2014-2020 programming period, such as research and development, higher education, and information and communication technology (ICT). The bank's stated objective is to help the country move into the era of the knowledge economy.
Finance will also go to green projects tackling climate change, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable tourism.
The EIB financing is being granted in the form of a structural programme loan, designed to provide funding for large-scale projects. The bank says, however, that the loan may also be used to finance smaller schemes, which, due to their limited size, would otherwise not qualify for direct EIB financing.
Adding together European and national funding, total investment will amount to €15 billion for the 2014-2020 period, said Laszlo Baranyay, EIB Vice-President. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)