The European Investment Bank is to make an extra £7.5 billion (10 billion Ecus) available for small and medium-sized businesses and new technology enterprises. The bank estimates that such an injection would generate a total volume of investment of £22.5 billion (30 billion Ecus) in Europe.

The bank is to create a new budget heading, aimed at helping small and medium sized firms to create sustainable jobs, which will receive funds of £337.5 million (450 million Ecus) over the next three years.

While a new European Technology Facility is to be set up to provide up to £93.8 million (125 million Ecus) in venture capital for small companies in the high tech sector.

The new investment programmes also involve a series of complementary measures to further support to assist in the fight against unemployment. These include the creation of a "special window" designed to support new forms of finance for high technology and high-growth small and medium sized businesses.

A special guarantee fund to encourage financial institutions to become involved in this scheme is to be put in place.

This aid can be backed, where appropriate, by recourse to the annual surpluses of the bank up to a ceiling of £750 million (1 billion Ecus) but will depend on the close co-operation of the banking and financial community, it said.

The funding arrangements will be tailor-made for specific project and operated by the EIB in conjunction with the various financial institutions across Europe. It will involve a sharing of risk and provide a variety of forms of equity and quasi-equity finance for qualifying companies.