The government plans to provide a total of 5,000 million euros in loans to support investments in the regional Spanish industry. These funds come under attachments to the Recovery and Resilience Plan, with the executive aiming to submit the package to the European Commission this quarter and to disburse 84,000 million euros in loans and 7,700 million in subsidies to the national economy.
Some of the loans will be administered by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. If Brussels approves the second tranche of the Recovery Plan, the Ministry will allocate 2,500 million euros to the Productive Industrial Investment Support Fund, known as FAIIP. Created in July 2021, FAIIP provides loans to Spanish companies or to those operating within Spain. Regardless of size, as long as the enterprise is not state-owned, those engaged in or planning industrial activity can access it. FAIIP finances up to 75 percent of project investments, and it does so under market conditions. Consequently, it is not considered state aid.
Separately, the Ministry will enable another 2,500 million euros to be managed by the State Industrial Subsidiaries Company, SEPI, within its internal development program known as Sepides. These loans can be issued with zero interest, meaning there will be no interest payments required.
The announcements came from Francisco Blanco, the Secretary General for Industry and SMEs for the Asturias region, during a ceremony held last Friday at the Prensa Ibérica group’s Club Prensa Asturiana in La Nueva España. He noted that an addendum to the Recovery Plan is under negotiation, but if it is approved without issues, this is the path that would be followed.
second scene
On December 20, the Council of Ministers approved the draft addendum. Nadia Calviño, then Minister of Economy, described it as the second phase in the full deployment of European funds for Spain. If the initial mobilization of 70,000 million euros approved in 2021 proceeds, the second round could enable Spain to request up to 84,000 million euros in loans and up to 7,700 million euros in grants from the European Commission. In total, these measures are projected to lift GDP by up to three percent by 2031 for a broad swath of the population. Calviño highlighted the potential impact on the economy.
Among the 84,000 million in loans, a central portion will go to a 20,000 million fund dedicated to autonomous communities. This fund would offer financing on preferential terms to allow public entities to extend loans to the private sector, supporting housing for vulnerable groups, transportation, tourism, commerce, and investment in SMEs.
Nevertheless, the realization of these funds remains contingent on approval from Brussels.