Estonia. Republic of Estonia

NIB is providing a loan to the Republic of Estonia to finance a share of the additional funding needed to support the measures taken to curb the immediate impact of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and society.

The Covid-19 mitigation loan will cover a part of the country’s increased expenditures, primarily:

• Additional direct expenditure for the healthcare system and civil protection services;
• Compensation to employees for forced unpaid leave from work and/or loss of salary due to self-isolation;
• Support measures for the most affected business sectors, such as small and medium-sized enterprises, tourism and transportation;
• Compensation for the loss of business and/or additional costs stemming from government’s restrictions imposed to limit the Covid-19 spread; such as closures of sports venues, theatres, museums, etc., and imposing quarantine to certain geographic areas and/or closing of national borders.

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

The purpose of the loan is to support the economy of a NIB member country and to alleviate the socio-economic consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The use of funds will not finance projects listed in the Bank’s exclusion list or shale oil.