EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Investments, Legislation, Lithuania, Society

Lithuania will have to repay the loan to the CEB within the period of 20 years. The loan will be granted in tranches and the Bank will set a specific interest rate for each tranche, the Ministry said.

The CEB loan will be used to finance construction or renovation of cultural, healthcare, education and sports facilities – more than 160 projects (total value of which – EUR 206 million) that are included into the Public Investment Programme 2014-2018.

Lithuania has been a member of the CEB since 1996. The Bank's loans were used for establishment of rehabilitation centres for elderly people, people with disabilities and abandoned children; renovation of buildings for educational purposes and higher schools; construction of the Special Care Home Tremtiniu Namai (Deportees House) in Vilnius in the framework of the Government's Programme for providing the accommodation for returning deportees. The CEB loans are also used to finance investments in social purpose objects.

The Council of Europe Development Bank is the only European development bank with exclusively social orientation: projects financed by the Bank's loans aim to promote social integration, protect the most vulnerable groups of the society, pursue sustainable development and improve living conditions in urban and rural areas. This institution has 40 members of the Council of Europe, and Lithuania belongs to the so called target group countries.