The European Investment Bank Group provided a total of 891 million euros to the Hungarian economy in 2021, a record volume of investment in the past five years, the EIB said on Tuesday.
The group consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) increased the volume of its operations in Hungary for the fifth consecutive year with lending 880 million euros. The EIF invested EUR million euros in Hungary — 5 million in equity and 6 million in guarantees to local public and private banks. Since 2017, the EIF has invested some 306.5 million euros in equity (EUR 120.5m), guarantees (EUR 185.4m) and inclusive finance (EUR 0.6m). The EIB Group’s activities in Hungary channelled 701 million euros for faster recovery of the Hungarian economy and fuelled the public sector’s response to the pandemic. The EIB provided 300 million euros in 2021 to the Hungarian government to co-finance the national Home Renovation Programme set up to improve the energy efficiency of homes. It also provided 150 million euros to Diákhitel to ensure Hungarian students have easier access to student loans and support post-secondary and adult training programmes. The EIB signed a 50 million euro agreement with UniCredit Bank to unlock new sources of financing for Hungarian SMEs struggling with the effects of the pandemic. Over the past ten years, the EIB invested around 10.4 billion euros in Hungary, the majority in credit lines for local SMEs and mid-caps. It invested 1.76 billion in the development of the country’s transport sector and a further 1.22 billion in the national health-care sector. An additional 1.11 billion was invested in the education sector, 976.9 million in the services sector, 800 million in agriculture, 776 million in the energy sector, 605 million in industry and 571 million in water and waste water management. Others sectors such as waste management, telecoms, composite infrastructure and urban development received more than 1.05 billion euros from the EIB, it said.
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