The Commission welcomes the signature of a new agreement between the European Investment Bank Group and Ibercaja under the Spanish SME initiative programme, which should benefit around 2,000 small businesses in the regions of Aragón, Andalucía, Extremadura and Madrid. With a contribution of €800 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the SME initiative boosts the competitiveness of Spanish small businesses via innovative ways to invest Cohesion Policy fund
A new agreement under the SME initiative will unlock €170 million of loans for Spanish businesses
- 04 May 2017
The Commission welcomes the signature of a new agreement between the European Investment Bank Group and Ibercaja under the Spanish SME initiative programme, which should benefit around 2,000 small businesses in the regions of Aragón, Andalucía, Extremadura and Madrid.
With a contribution of €800 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the SME initiative boosts the competitiveness of Spanish small businesses via innovative ways to invest Cohesion Policy funds.
35,000 Spanish small businesses and entrepreneurs have already benefitted from the programme's support since its launch in January 2015.
Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu said: “Spain was the first Member State to sign up for the SME initiative and this pioneering choice paid off. €800 million of Cohesion Policy funding has been invested in this innovative programme, which already supported thousands of small businesses by giving them the funding they need to develop and create jobs, and gave a boost to the Spanish real economy."