Portugal’s development bank contracts €50 million with Spain’s ICO
Portugal’s development bank Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) has signed an international financing contract with the Spain’s Institute of Official Credit (ICO) for a line of financing with an initial injection of up to €50 million.
BPF has made “its first international financing agreement with the Official Credit Institute (ICO), the Development Bank of Spain, marking a relevant institutional milestone in BPF’s internationalisation strategy and in strengthening financial cooperation between the two countries,” it said in a statement.
This agreement provides for “the provision of a financing line with an initial allocation of up to €50 million, on an ‘on-lending’ basis” which aims to “directly finance Portuguese companies and projects in Portugal with an economic connection to Spain” and which will promote “investment initiatives with a cross-border impact”.
With this line, BPF believes that it will “expand its capacity to support the economy, ensuring favourable conditions for financing companies and business investment projects with an international dimension”, ensuring “high added value for the competitiveness” of the country.
The BFP has a goal to finance 20,000 companies overall with €8Bn in 2026.
The development’s bank CEO, Gonçalo Regalado said “2026 brings a number of relevant challenges but with countless opportunities for companies and the Portuguese economy.
There is room for us to gain scale in global markets with the signing of the new EU-Mercosur agreement, with the strengthening of the European internal market and with the search for new markets in Africa, the Persian Gulf and the East.
Portugal is in a situation of economic and social stability, balanced public accounts and guarantees of a favorable investment environment”, said the CEO laying out the bank’s goals for 2026.
He said that Portugal had a good foreign direct investment pipeline for industry and technology, artificial intelligence, software, tourism, in services, energy and infrastructure.
Companies, he added, relied on the development bank to be a driver of the economy, an accelerator for growth and a multiplier using financial instruments to support investment.
In 2025, BPF injected €6.5Bn into the economy, representing 2.2% of GDP, supporting more than €16,000 companies with more than 18,000 investment financing operations.
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