11 Jun 2018
NIB in January–April 2018: member country investment speeds up lending
NIB has published an interim financial report for the first four months of the year. Both the volumes of new lending and disbursement showed a nearly two-fold growth on the results of the same period last year. The main drivers of the increase in the Bank’s lending activity were demand for long-term financing from member country corporate borrowers, as well as continued demand for long-term financing from the municipal sector and from financial intermediaries to support SMEs.
In January–April 2018, the Bank agreed new lending deals for a total of EUR 1,104 million (Jan–Apr 2017: EUR 610 million) and disbursed EUR 1,376 million (Jan–Apr 2017: 781). One main driver for the increase in January–April was larger investment needs in the private sector. After a few years of subdued investments in the private sector, demand started to pick up last year, and that trend has continued into 2018. In the private sector, NIB disbursed loans to finance large corporate investments in member countries in new production capacity and R&D. NIB also disbursed loans to financial intermediates for onlending to SMEs.
The other main driver of increased demand was the need to update public infrastructure. Proceeds were used to upgrade and replace public transportation and road infrastructure, water supply and wastewater treatment, and energy generation and distribution, as well as to upgrade and construct public buildings, such as schools and hospitals.
NIB reviews all projects it finances and scores them for productivity gains and environmental benefits in the Nordic–Baltic countries. About 83% of all projects financed this year have been assessed as having a significant positive impact on the productivity and/or environment of the region.
The profit for the period amounted to EUR 68 million, a decrease of EUR 42 million compared to the same period last year. The main reason for the lower profit was lower unrealised valuation gains on financial operations. Given the good loan pipeline, the flows of deals and new disbursements are expected to continue at the same pace for the rest of the year.