The Western Balkans Region comprises Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate Countries.
The EIB is the leading international financier in the region, where we started operations in 1977, mainly supporting the reconstruction and upgrading of public infrastructure.
In the last decade we have expanded our work in the Western Balkans into many new areas, such as:
- healthcare
- education
- research and development
- private sector development
We work closely with the European Commission, blending our loans with EU grants to achieve an optimal financing package. For the last two decades, financing foreign direct investment receives particular emphasis and support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via our local partner banks.
We provide large project loans directly to public and private sector bodies. SMEs and regional authorities are also supported via intermediated loans, as well as microfinance is managed by our network of local partner banks. SMEs can also benefit from equity and debt funding via the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group. Our guarantees help mobilise resources from other sources and our technical assistance helps promoters use funding effectively.