EIB grants €120m for coastal and forestry protection in Spain

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €120 million loan to Spain’s Agriculture, Food & Environment Ministry to support its coastal and forestry protection programme.

EIB Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez Arza said: “This operation is a further demonstration of the EIB’s support for Spain’s economy inasmuch as it will facilitate investment that gives a boost to economic activity and employment in a large number of Spanish municipalities while contributing to the protection of the country’s forests and coasts, which are among its key assets.”

The programme will be implemented from 2013 to 2016 and is aimed at improving the resiliency of Spain’s coasts and forests.

The EIB will finance schemes involving the rehabilitation and protection of the countries coastline, the purchasing of fire-fighting aircraft and the restoration of forests damaged by fires.

The loan represents the EIB’s first direct support to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment for financing the coastal and forestry protection programme.

Over the course of 2013, the EIB provided finance totalling €71.7 billion million, mainly in the EU.

In Spain, its lending reached a record €10.710 billion, making it the biggest recipient of EIB funds for the tenth year running.