“Cyprus retains its leading position among the European Investment Bank (EIB) shareholders in 2020,” said Cyprus Finance Minister Konstantinos Petrides on Monday, after a meeting with EIB President Werner Hoyer.

Petrides said the €500 million scheme has already been approved by the EIB and by the end of the year the expected additional €200 million will follow.

Since 2013, the EIB has funded projects in Cyprus worth 1.7 billion euros.

According to Petrides, Cyprus was the first country to sign agreements on participation in the Common European Guarantee Fund. And at the meeting Hoyer expressed his gratitude for the fact that Cyprus was the first EU country to join the Guarantee Fund.

The Minister of Finance also thanked the EIB for its recent approval of a EUR 150 million loan to finance the CyprusGas2EU project at the Vasiliko Energy Center, which will supply natural gas to the island’s power plants to generate electricity in line with EU directives. The construction of this complex will reduce heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

Hoyer, who also met with President Nicos Anastasiades, stressed that the Bank does not work in any other European country more than in Cyprus and added that the island currently invests 1.5% of the country’s GDP annually (that is 500 million euros).

The EIB is a financial institution of the European Union to finance the development of underdeveloped European regions in the form of long-term loans.

Source: Financialmirror