The President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, gave an update on the evolution of the Bank's capital once the United Kingdom has once again become a third country on Tuesday 29 January, presenting the European Institution's 2018 Activity Report (see EUROPE 12172).
He welcomed the fact that the 27 Member States had agreed to inject additional capital so that the EIB's capital - now set at EUR 243.3 billion of subscribed capital - would not decrease with Brexit.
The UK's share in the EIB's capital - EUR 39.2 billion of subscribed capital, including EUR 3.5 billion of paid-up capital - will be covered as follows: the EIB will draw on its reserves to provide the EUR 3.5 billion of paid-up capital and the Twenty-seven will cover subscribed capital according to the usual distribution key based on national GDP.
In addition to this discussion, several Member States are willing to contribute more to the EIB's capital, so that their shareholding will better reflect their economic weight in the EU. According to Mr Hoyer, the Twenty-seven have agreed to the request "from Poland, Romania and, potentially, Luxembourg", even if these additional capital injections will remain "modest".
The EIB President also considered that the prospect of Brexit had not, at this stage, affected investors' perception of the EU Bank, which intends to maintain its AAA financial rating. Far from welcoming the United Kingdom's exit from the EU, he noted that the British economy would be negatively affected by its withdrawal from the EIB's capital, particularly because the British do not have a strong national development bank.
Responding to the European Court of Auditors' recommendations on the economic impact of the Juncker investment plan (see other news), Mr Hoyer pointed out that in 2018 the EIB Group had focused its operations on supporting innovation and combating climate change.
Out of a total of €64.2 billion in financing granted last year, €13.5 billion was used to support innovation, €15.2 billion for the environment, €12.3 billion for infrastructure and €23.3 billion for SMEs. 70% of EIB operations are in the EU, 17% in Asia, 12% in Latin America and only 1% in Africa and the Middle East. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)