European organisations launch €280 million financing initiative to support Covid-19 impacted business

As part of Team Europe’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, eleven members of EDFI, the Association of European Development Finance Institutions, are strengthening cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to create a new dedicated Covid-19 financing initiative through the existing European Financing Partners (EFP) scheme. The EUR 280 million initiative will support financial institutions and businesses in developing countries and ensure continued business investment.

“Increasing targeted support for private sector investment around the world is crucial to strengthen the resilience of companies and communities most impacted by Covid-19. The European Investment Bank is pleased to join forces with development finance partners from across Europe to build on the successful track record of European Financing Partners. The EUR 280 million of new Covid-19 through EFP support represents a further milestone in Team Europe’s rapid response to support partners around the globe,” said Ambroise Fayolle, European Investment Bank Vice-President.

The dedicated support enables EDFI members and the EIB to scale up robust and targeted support for businesses in developing and emerging markets and assist local financial partners most impacted by Covid-19. The initiative will start operations in November with an initial amount of EUR 280 million. It has been designed to provide additional support to address challenges faced by companies suffering from the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Launched in 2003, EFP has demonstrated how financial support can be provided using an efficient and fast track process with low administrative overheads. EFP enables large-scale investment in developing countries to be supported while reducing the risk faced by individual development finance institutions.

Since its launch, the partnership between development finance partners and the EIB has supported sustainable private sector investment in 43 projects, with a total value of EUR 590 million across countries included in the OECD DAC list.

The new dedicated Covid-19 initiative builds on this track record to pool resources, facilitate and streamline financial cooperation to face the current crisis