Juncker Plan reaches €264.3 billion in mobilised investment, with 589,000 SMEs set to benefit from financing

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) - the core element of the Investment Plan for Europe - is now expected to trigger €264.3 billion in investments, following the latest transactions to be approved by the European Investment Bank (EIB) Board of Directors. This represents around 84% of the original target: mobilising €315 billion of investment by summer 2018. The deals which will benefit from the EU budget guarantee now amount to €53.2 billion in financing and are located in all 28 Member States. So far, 366 infrastructure and innovation projects - representing financing of €40.4 billion - have been approved under the EFSI. In addition, 370 financing agreements - worth €12.8 billion - have been approved for smaller companies (SMEs). Thanks to these agreements, around 589,000 SMEs are expected to benefit from improved access to financing. As of February, the top five countries ranked in order of EFSI investment triggered, relative to GDP, are Greece, Estonia, Bulgaria, Portugal and Spain.