The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) on Tuesday signed a €200 million loan to foster economic growth and support post-quake recovery and reconstruction efforts in Croatia.

This is the ninth CEB loan in favour of HBOR. It follows a €200 million loan approved in 2019 and a €100 million one from 2017, both of which supported local authorities and MSME investments, the Council of Europe bank says on its website.

“We are very pleased to continue our longstanding cooperation with HBOR and to support sustainable recovery in Croatia following a very challenging period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and two destructive earthquakes,” CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli was quoted as saying.

“Our latest loan will enable investments in vital social infrastructure across the country and promote regional development,” he said.

The CEB loan will be channelled through HBOR directly to eligible end-borrowers to partially finance the development and upgrading of local and regional infrastructure, such as water supply, wastewater disposal and treatment networks, local roads, educational, cultural and other municipal facilities.

The loan will allow HBOR to support micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), create new jobs and preserve the existing ones, and to finance the reconstruction and retrofitting of the infrastructure and buildings damaged by the earthquakes.

HBOR management board president Tamara Perko was quoted as saying that “thanks to the funds of CEB, which has been our reliable partner for more than 20 years, HBOR has supported 1,500 projects of small and medium-sized enterprises and almost 200 infrastructure projects of the public sector.”

“We will use these loan funds for financing under our current loan programmes, but also for projects that will be financed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).”

A member of the CEB since 1997, Croatia has so far received more than €1 billion in financing from the Bank to support key investments in health, urban and rural infrastructure, flood prevention measures, and micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Croatia also benefits from and is a partner of the CEB-managed Regional Housing Programme.