Greece tops the ranking of countries that have received investment by the European Fund of Strategic Investment (EFSI) relative to GDP. According to a press release issued by the European Commission, in the context of the famous Juncker Plan, Greece has received 2.7 billion euros from the EFSI that is expected to trigger investment of 10.6 billion euros.
Top 5 countries profited by EFSI
- Greece
- Estonia
- Lithuania
- Bulgaria
- Finland
Projects in Greece that have received the EFSI are one telecommunications and one wind energy company as well as two companies from the food sector.
Viotia Wind Farms
The EIB is providing Terna Energy Group with a €24 million loan to build three new wind farms in Viotia in central Greece. This project is good for the EU’s low-carbon strategy, and it will sustain dozens of jobs in Greece.
Cosmote broadband
The EIB is lending Greek telecoms operator Cosmote €150 million to roll out high speed broadband across Greece. The financing will significantly increase the network’s performance in terms of speed, capacity and coverage and improve the network’s performance in more rural and remote areas of the country.
Creta Farms agri-food
- EFSI-backed financing: €15 million
- set to trigger total investment: €31 million
The EIB is providing agri-food company Creta Farms a €15 million loan to develop new product lines and expand its business abroad. The biggest cold-cuts company in Greece, Creta Farms spends five times as much as its peers on innovative ways to produce healthier meats. It removes saturated animal fats from its meats and injects extra virgin olive oil into them. The company took on 100 extra staff thanks to the new finance.
Mani Foods: olive production
Mani Foods produces, packages and exports kalimata olives, winning awards for its extra virgin olive oil. To keep up with rising demand, Mani Foods needed to invest in new machinery. The company secured a loan from the National Bank of Greece that is guaranteed by the EIF under the Investment Plan. With this financing Mani Foods has expanded its factory for new business, developed new product lines and doubled its staff.
The European Commission said the the Juncker Plan has exceeded its original €315-billion investment target and that EFSI has distributed a total of €335 billion since July 2015.
- The Juncker Plan is set to increase EU GDP by 1.3% and to create 1.4 million jobs by 2020
- Juncker Plan is expected to trigger €335 billion in investment across the 28 EU Member States
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group have delivered on their pledge to mobilise €315 billion in additional investment under the Investment Plan for Europe, the Juncker Plan. The Juncker Plan was launched in November 2014 to reverse the downward trend of low levels of investment and put Europe on the path to economic recovery.
Backed by a budget guarantee from the European Union and own resources from the EIB Group, 898 operations have been approved, which are expected to trigger €335 billion in investment across the 28 EU Member States. This is more than the original goal of €315 billion set in 2015 when EFSI was launched, helping to close the investment gap left as a result of the financial and economic crisis. 700,000 small and medium-sized companies are set to benefit from improved access to finance. Given the EFSI’s success, the European Council and the European Parliament agreed last year to extend its duration and capacity to €500 billion by end-2020.
In terms of jobs and growth, the EIB’s Economics Department and the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) estimate that EFSI operations have already supported more than 750,000 jobs with the figure set to rise to 1.4 million jobs by 2020 compared to the baseline scenario. In addition, calculations show that the Juncker Plan has already increased EU GDP by 0.6% and it is set to increase EU GDP by 1.3% by 2020. Two thirds of the €335 billion raised comes from private resources, meaning that the EFSI has also met its objective of mobilising private investment.
Measured against the size of the economy, the biggest impact is in countries that were hard hit by the crisis, i.e. Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. While the direct investment impact is particularly high in those countries, the calculations found that cohesion regions (mostly Eastern European countries) are likely to benefit more from a long-term effect, the EC statement said.
EFSI Fact sheet by country & ranking
PS and my cat remembered the KTG post about the Juncker Plan where another cat had written a line forecasting that Jean-Claude’s Investment Plan would benefit only big companies.
