the EU bank

EIB lending in Asia and Latin America (ALA) started in 1993 and is governed by mandates from the European Union (EU). Under the current mandate (ALA IV), covering the period the 2007-2013, the EIB is authorised to lend up to EUR 3.8 billion for financing operations supporting the EU cooperation strategies in these regions and complementing other EU development and cooperation programmes and instruments in these regions.

The EUR 3.8 billion regional ceiling is broken down into indicative sub-ceilings of EUR 2.8 billion for Latin America and EUR 1.0 billion for Asia. There are no amounts allocated per country.

The countries currently eligible for EIB financing under the ALA IV mandate are:

Asia

• Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam - ASEAN Group Bangladesh, China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Yemen

Latin America

• Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Types of projects

The EIB can support viable public and private sector projects in infrastructure, industry, agro-industry, mining and services. Special emphasis is given to projects that contribute to environmental sustainability (including climate change mitigation) and to the security of the EU energy supply. The other core sector of activity will be to support the EU presence in those regions through Foreign Direct Investment, transfer of technology and know-how. EIB loans are project-oriented and linked to the financing of the fixed-asset components of an investment.

Projects with a total investment above EUR 25 million can be financed either directly to a project promoter or indirectly through a government or financial intermediary. Project promoters are required simply to provide the Bank's Operations Directorate with a detailed description of their capital investment together with the prospective financing arrangements. The total investment of a typical project under the ALA III mandate is above EUR 40 million.

For smaller projects the EIB can lend through credit lines to selected financial institutions, which then on-lend the funds mainly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The financial institutions assess each project, assume the credit risk and set the loan conditions for the final beneficiary according to criteria agreed with the EIB. Interested promoters of such projects should contact the banks and intermediaries directly.