05/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers in Limassol, Cyprus, on Thursday 1 October 2009, Plutarchos Sakellaris, the vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) with responsibility for operations in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, said that the EIB is preparing to increase its lending to the three regions in the next few months because the economic crisis is affecting them worse than countries with more advanced economies. (O.L.)