The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a €50 million guarantee agreement with Erste Bank Croatia as part of the InvestEU fund to support sustainability, innovation, culture and creativity as well as the green and digital transition of small businesses in Croatia, state news platform Hina reported on Tuesday, carrying a press release published by the EIF on their website.

This is the first contract within the framework of the new InvestEU fund in Croatia.

“The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group, has signed a €50 million guarantee agreement with Erste Bank Croatia under the InvestEU Fund to support sustainability, innovation and digitization of Croatian small businesses, as well as the development of the cultural and creative sectors.”

Thanks to wide-ranging coverage, the funds under the InvestEU will help Croatian small and medium enterprises and mid-caps to introduce more sustainable, climate-friendly technologies and operating practices.

The financing provided by the EIF also supports innovation and digital transformation by enhancing access to finance for research and technologically-driven companies. It will also contribute to the development of the cultural and creative sectors, the creation of new business ecosystems and their adaptation to current market challenges.

Director in the EIF’s Mandate Management Department, Hubert Cottogni, explained that “since 2017, when the first guarantee agreement with Erste Bank was signed, Erste became one of the EIF’s key partners in Croatia.”

“Today’s agreement marks an important milestone in our fruitful cooperation, as this is the first signature under the InvestEU Fund in Croatia and one of the first in the entire European Union.”

“This financing will enable the profound transformation of the Croatian economy towards a more sustainable, digital, inclusive and competitive model.”

President of the Management Board of Erste&Steiermarkische Bank, Christoph Schoefboeck, said that they are pleased that it was the first partner bank under the InvestEU Fund in Croatia.

“To date in partnership with the EIB and the EIF we have provided a total of €290 million in funding and €515 million in loans supported by EGF and InnovFin guarantee instruments to our clients. Support for small and medium-sized enterprises, as important drivers of growth and economic development, is one of our key strategic pillars. This guarantee agreement provides us with three additional guarantee instruments that will enable our clients to make green and sustainable investments, conduct projects with innovative and digitized components and support our clients within the cultural and creative sectors. This will certainly lead to the accomplishment of numerous successful projects,” underlined Schoefboeck.

According to the information from the press release, since the beginning of its activities in Croatia, the EIF has signed over 40 agreements with local commercial banks, supporting around 5 000 companies and helping to sustain some 70,000 jobs in the country.