It is a great pleasure to welcome President Hoyer and his team to Cyprus.
During our meeting, we had the opportunity to discuss the current economic situation with regards to the geopolitical developments in Ukraine. I do welcome the support offered by EIB to Cyprus to mitigate the economic consequences by the recent geopolitical developments and the evolution of the pandemic.
We also discussed EIB’s rapid response to the war in Ukraine and the support for investment to reduce the economic impact in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries and expressed our appreciation for EIB’s support.
We had a fruitful discussion about Cyprus EIB cooperation and I express our satisfaction towards EIB staff, in helping Cyprus to fight the economic consequences of the Covid 19 outbreak and enabling us to reduce the economic effects of the pandemic. As a result of the close collaboration with EIB services, in 2021 Cyprus has again maintained the position of the most benefited country in Europe in terms of GDP, as regards EIB financing, an increase of 24% since last year, which demonstrates that EIB is a committed and reliable partner and has supported our country’s growth in times of crisis. It is worth to mention that almost half of EIB’s exposure to Cyprus was approved after the 2013 financial crisis.
I would like once more to express our appreciation to the President for the EIB’s Group strong commitment to Cyprus, both through the Bank and its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund. As I said last month, during the visit of EIB VP Pavlova, the EIB’s activity in Cyprus, as it has been demonstrated by the 2021 results reached a volume of 303 million euros for investments both in the public and private sector in Cyprus.
o EUR 100m, under the CYPEF II, a risk sharing instrument, which aims to support local SMEs and MidCaps during these challenging times.
o EUR 112m, for supporting key public sector transport infrastructure projects. The amount was increased to include a much-needed investment in road safety cameras, demanded by society for more than a decade.
o EUR 15m, venture debt financing with Hellas Direct, a private tech company providing online insurance services in Greece and Cyprus, was signed in June 2021.
o EUR 6m to Alpha Bank for the support of small size renewable energy (“RE”) and energy efficiency (“EE”) investments as well as investments of small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) leading to CO2 emission reductions and energy savings in the framework of Cyprus renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) Small Investments Finance Contract.
o EUR 70m under European Guarantee Fund (EGF-EIF support): EIF signed 2 important guarantee agreements under the EGF Mandate: EUR 50m with Hellenic Bank and EUR 20m with Eurobank.
We also had the opportunity to discuss new and additional investments that are planned in key sectors of the economy which include new long-term financing in order help SMEs and MidCaps overcome the recent economic challenges, urban infrastructure projects, innovation projects, and renewable energy. In this respect, I am pleased that an agreement was reached with the European Investment Fund regarding the Cyprus Equity Fund, the first equity fund in the country supported by public resources, a few days ago.
We look forward to further enhance our cooperation with EIB in the years to come.
Thank you.
