LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) – There is space to increase the lending of the European Investment Bank as the bank seeks to help finance multiple European Union priorities from defence to energy and competitiveness, EIB President Nadia Calvino said on Tuesday.
In an interview at the Reuters NEXT Europe summit, Calvino said however, that EU governments, which are the EIB’s owners, for now focus more on the impact of the existing lending, encouraging more risk-taking and influence in these areas.
“There are a number of limits, but there is space to do it,” Calvino said when asked if the bank’s current lending ceiling of 100 billion euros could be increased.
“Our shareholders … last week … were very much insisting, not so much on doing more volumes, but rather to have more impact, more risk-taking, and more influence and impact in those areas that matter – tech leadership, security, and defence, competitiveness,” she said.
The EIB, the world’s biggest multilateral lender, borrows on the markets with its AAA credit rating to lend for various projects — mainly investments linked to shifting the EU’s economy to green energy to prevent climate change.
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(Reporting by Alessandra Galloni, Marc Jones in London and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)