New long-term funding agreements worth 66 million euros
Three funding operations from the 2020 financial year have been formalised, with an overall value of 66 million euros. The three deals were considered the best of the 24 offers made by six different financial entities, according to criteria such as costs, availability periods, sustainability formulas linked to funding and the social improvements presented.
One of the loans is with Kutxabank, offering 35 million euros to be paid in a period of ten years, another is with Bankia, worth 25 million with payment in eight years and featuring a sustainability formula whereby the financial entity makes a commitment to discount the cost of the loan if certain sustainability goals set by the City Council are satisfied. The third loan is with the Caixa d’Enginyers, worth six million euros and based on payment in eight years.
The intention with these three operations is to diversify the means of funding and go further than traditional bank loans, which account for 34.2% of the City Council’s funding sources. The public bank offers 57.1% of municipal funding, compared to 4.3% from ethical and cooperative banks and 4.4% through green bonds.
The formalisation of this new funding comes in addition to the 50 million euros through the loan with the Council of Europe Development Bank and the 45 million from the European Investment Bank. Having settled the 81.4 million euros in loan payments due in the last financial year, as of 31 December 2020, Barcelona City Council’s debt stands at 799.7 million euros.
