NextGenerationEU funding operations off to a good start according to new report

The Commission published today its first semi-annual report on the NextGenerationEU funding programme, covering the period June–December 2021. It details a number of key statistics related to NextGenerationEU borrowing, such as the total funds the Commission raised for the programme in 2021 (€71 billion in long-term funding) and the total funds it disbursed to Member States under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) (€64 billion) and to other programmes under the EU budget. Of particular note is the sheer size of demand for NextGenerationEU borrowing. Keen to accelerate Europe’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, investors maintained strong interest in the programme throughout the year, producing orderbooks between 7 and 14 times oversubscribed. This allowed the Commission to close its 2021 NextGenerationEU transactions on very favourable terms, ultimately achieving an average cost of funding as low as 0.14%. Among other achievements, the Commission confirmed that all amounts due to Member States in 2021 were paid rapidly, less than 6 working days after the completion of the necessary legal procedures. Commenting on the report, Commissioner responsible for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, said: ”Today’s report confirms the ground-breaking success of the NextGenerationEU funding programme. The benefits of this strong performance will be passed on to the Member States receiving RRF grants and loans, a testament to what European solidarity can achieve.” The Commission’s semi-annual report on NextGenerationEU funding operations is available here. More information about NextGenerationEU borrowing and lending is available on our website.