Ireland one of the smallest investment bank borrowers
The EIB, owned by the member states, lent €72 billion last year to part finance projects from renewable energy, roads and schools to funding for small and medium sized businesses.
Spain, Italy and Germany were the biggest borrowers from the Luxembourg-based outfit but Ireland was the seventh lowest, drawing down €241 million or less than 0.3% of the bank’s total lending last year.
The money was spent on two projects, the construction of a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant for Bord Gáis in Whitegate, Co Cork, which received €197m, and construction of 23 post-primary and four primary schools, which received €44m.
Over the past five years the EIB has lent €2,632m for 22 Irish projects. For the coming year the bank’s board has approved money for four projects.
These are up to €150m for Allied Irish Bank to lend to SMEs; the Arklow to Rathnew section of the N11–N7 motorway, a private public partnership costing €350m of which the EIB would finance up to €75m; up to €500m for the Dublin Metro North public private partnership; and the 57 km long N17-N18 Gort to Tuam private public partnership motorway. The EIB has agreed to finance up to €170m of the total €530m.
Whether these schemes will go ahead has to be decided by the incoming government and will depend on where the balance of the funding will come from. Fianna Fáil say they would go ahead with the metro project.
The bank, that borrows on the markets cheaply, lends the money at very attractive rates to large companies and governments, including candidate companies and developing nations.
The EIB increased its financing for climate change projects last year to €19bn in support of the EU’s emphasis on such projects to cope with climate change and create new jobs.
The bank’s president, Philippe Maystadt, said they will respond to the EU’s call for funds for countries undergoing reform, such as Tunisia and Egypt.
They are waiting for the member states and the European Parliament to decide to increase the ceiling for EIB financing in the Mediterranean, “so we could do more and faster in these countries in transition towards democracy”, he said.
The bank has almost no bad loans and those on a watch list account for just 0.3% of their total portfolio.
They delivered a solid net profit that last year amounted to €2.1bn, it has a capital adequacy ratio of 27%.
