photo: RAILTARGET/EIB Group Invests €1.85 Billion in 2022 to Support Economic and Social Development of the Czech Republic
The European Investment Bank Group, consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Investment Fund (EIF), invested €1.85 billion in the Czech Republic in 2022 facilitating regional development, accelerating sustainable development and innovation of small and medium enterprises and mid-caps, and ensuring stability and efficiency of energy supply and climate action. The EIB lent €1.78 billion through twelve operations in the public, private and banking sectors, while the EIF provided an additional €70 million, in four equity, guarantee and inclusive finance operations.
To help the EU and partner countries' cope with the economic consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the EIB Group deployed €1.7 billion since the beginning of the war and provided some €3.6 million in humanitarian aid donations outside of the EU.
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The Bank partnered with the Czech Government to provide €200 million to help CZ host Ukrainian refugees, mainly to finance expenses related to the Czech national health sector. To accelerate project preparation to support the Ukrainian recovery, the Czech Republic became the 9th donor under the Trust Fund for the Eastern Partnership countries (EPTATF) by contributing €10 million to the fund.
A record 19.4 billion euros of the EIB Group’s financing in 2022 globally went to support clean energy. With the Group’s package of support for the REPowerEU initiative, the Bank is still going higher, investing over €17 billion last year – all into projects that contribute to REPowerEU’s objective of ending European dependency on Russia.
At a time of extreme energy insecurity, the EIB signed several significant operations in the Czech corporate sector including a record loan of EUR 790 million within an investment programme over the period 2023-2024 with the Czech national utility company ČEZ. The deal aimed to upgrade and expand the country’s electricity distribution grid and promote the Czech Republic’s energy independence by enabling ČEZ to connect around 2.2 GW of new renewable energy sources.
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Vice-President of the EIB, Lilyana Pavlova, in charge of operations in the Czech Republic, said: „We are proud to be an integral part of the Czech success story and its transformation into a modern and globally competitive economy in the last 30 years. In 2022, we signed twelve operations, including a record deal in the energy sector, which is one of our flagship investments supporting the EU to escape the shackles of fossil-fuel dependency, meet its climate goals and contribute to the decarbonisation of the global economy. Moving ahead we will keep our strong focus on supporting the Czech economy ensuring just transition, decarbonisation of the industry, deployment of renewables, energy-efficient solutions and green transport. We are committed to bringing another layer of boost for the Czech companies, households, and infrastructure, by delivering on the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November with the Ministers of Transport and Finance on the modernization of the Czech railway sector. I would like to thank our partners, especially the Government, for the opportunity to contribute to a strong Czech economy.”
Jiří Valenta, the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic, commented: „I appreciate the activities of the European Investment Bank in the Czech economy and I believe the Bank will stay our strong and reliable financial partner for more than another 30 years. Since 1992, the EIB has invested a total of EUR 27.6 billion in the Czech Republic. In the context of the current geopolitical risks, we must continue to reduce our dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports and our priority remains investment in the development of nuclear energy and renewable energy while respecting the climate targets. Equally important for us will be increased investment in the defence of our country."
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Continuous support for businesses, climate action, efficient and reliable energy supply
Since the beginning of the operations in the Czech Republic in 1992 the EIB unlocked almost €27 billion supporting all key sectors of the Czech economy, while €1,69 billion came from the EIF, totalling over €27,57 billion euros as a Group (around CZK 661 billion).
Last year, the EIB invested in three operations within the public sector, six with banks and three with Czech corporates. Next to the record deal to CEZ, we directed €91,6 million of our investments to CEPS, to reinforce the Czech electricity transmission network over the period 2023-2025.
The EU Bank provided €36,7 million to Ceske Drahy to modernise its rolling stock providing services mainly in lesser developed regions of the country, hence, facilitating regional development.
Supporting innovation, €9.9 million was provided to Codasip, a Brno-based company that sells electronic design automation software and €5.5 million went to Advanced Electronics RDI to boost the company’s investments in power and comfort electronics, drive and comfort controls for automotive applications.
A transaction of €50 million was steered to Inven Capital, a Czech venture capital fund, expanding a mutual strategic partnership that started six years ago.
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EIB further provided substantial support to the Czech banking sector helping SMEs and Midcaps with more accessible loans with a remarkable envelope of €646 million in total partnering with Ceska sporitelna, CSOB, SGEF and Unicredit Leasing.
EIF invests in digital technologies and innovation-based competitiveness of the Czech economy
The EIF operations in 2022 totalled €67.2 million in equity, inclusive finance and guarantees for SMEs and mid-cap loans in three operations with the financial institutions, namely with Ceska Sporitelna and Komercni Banka. It is expected that the leveraged financing will reach €127 million.
A new programme with the Ministry of Industry and Trade funded by an allocation of €55m from the Recovery and Resilience Facility negotiated last year will target digital technologies through commitments to a pre-seed co-investment fund, a fintech/blockchain fund and an AI university TT fund. The programme is currently being launched.
EIB Advisory Services to improve the country’s energy efficiency and attract additional EU funds
In 2022, the EIB Advisory Services continued to provide valuable advisory and capacity-building support to the Government of the Czech Republic and the country’s public and private sectors. Last year, the EIB Advisory Services took on 15 new assignments and completed two, with 34 active assignments in the country. The EIB Advisory Services support promoters in Czechia to develop and implement projects in areas such as climate and environment, energy efficiency, infrastructure, and sustainable urban development.
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Most ongoing assignments of Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions (JASPERS) in the Czech Republic are in support of the development of a project pipeline, principally in the rail and road sectors, including a strategy for implementation of TEN-T technical standards and concepts for the Czech high-speed rail network and Prague rail node development. The experts also advise on the development of the bicycling infrastructure in the city of Brno, as a part of the Urban Development Plan of the city.
European Local Energy Assistance (ELENA) works on three energy efficiency improvement projects of publicly and privately owned buildings in the country that receive over €10 million in grants in efforts to attract EUR €267 million for energy efficiency measures. At the same time, last year the EIB Advisory Hub engaged extensively with Czech counterparts about the provision of support in the social and affordable housing sector. Work in this area is expected to advance and accelerate in 2023.
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Source: European Investment Bank (EIB)