The European Commission has disbursed €157 million to Cyprus in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the grant and loan component of the country's financial allocation. The pre-financing payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Cyprus' recovery and resilience plan.  

The Commission will authorise further disbursements based on the implementation of the investments and reforms outlined in Cyprus' recovery and resilience plan. The country is set to receive €1.2 billion in total over the lifetime of its plan, with €1 billion provided in grants and €200 million in loans.

This disbursement follows the recent successful implementation of the first borrowing operations under NextGenerationEU. By the end of the year, the Commission intends to raise up to a total of €80 billion in long-term funding, to be complemented by short-term EU-Bills, to fund the first planned disbursements to Member States under NextGenerationEU.

The plan includes investments in the framework of the green transition (€89 million in energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, €87 million in promoting sustainable and green mobility, and €19 million to upgrade the country's capacity to combat with fire hazards) as well as in the digital transition (€133 million in the digitalization of public services and €87 million to enhance access to communication infrastructure) in line with the Union’s current priorities.

Cyprus is now the 11^th Member State to receive the first share of its financial allocation while a total of 18 National Recovery and Resilience Plans have now been approved by the Council.

Image © European Commission, 2021