(17 April 2018) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) yesterday announced the launch of a new financing initiative that aims to unlock close to €1 billion of investment for private cooperatives and companies in the agriculture and bio-economy sector.
The bio-economy sector encompasses the value chains of production and the processing of food, material and energy using renewable biological resources from land and sea.
This large EIB lending programme for agriculture and bio-economy will be guaranteed by the EU budget under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
In spite of its size and importance in the overall European economy, the agriculture and bio-economy sector is mainly made up of companies and cooperatives with relatively small investments, which are difficult to target with direct lending.