The European Investment Bank (EIB) –the lending arm of the European Union – has signed loan agreements totalling up to €140 with private and public institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia. The EIB funds will boost support for small and medium-sized businesses for faster COVID-19 recovery by enabling access to immediate financing under favourable terms and conditions. At the same time, they will support recovery and growth by targeting specific economic sectors and groups such as agriculture, services, women and ICT entrepreneurship.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, the EIB has signed two loans with UniCredit totalling up to €100 million. In Kosovo, the EIB will provide a €40 million loan, through the Kosovo Ministry of Finance, to KCGF (Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund) to issue credit guarantees to local financing institutions and facilitate working capital and longer-term capital investments to small businesses.

The support is part of the Team Europe initiative and the €1.7 billion financial programme adopted by the EIB in 2020 for the socio-economic recovery of the Western Balkans from the COVID-19 pandemic.