ATHENS, (Reuters) – The European Union’s lending arm, European Investment Bank (EIB) provided record funding of nearly 5 billion euro ($5.70 Billion) to Greece last year in order to support the country’s transition to cleaner energy and its business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials said Tuesday.

This amount is now equivalent to 2.7% of Greece’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, according to Christian Kettel Thomsen, Vice President of EIB. He spoke at a virtual ceremony with senior officials from the Greek finance ministry.

EIB provided guarantees of 2.7 billion euro through European Guarantee Fund to assist companies that were affected by coronavirus-related lockdowns. The loans came from four major lenders in the country: Alpha Bank, Eurobank and National Bank.

These guarantees will mobilise over 6 billion euro in investments in the digital economy, tourism and green energy, Christos Staikouras, Greek Finance Minister, said.

EIB will also manage funds in excess of 5 billion Euros that Greece receives from the European Union’s Pandemic Recovery Fund over the next few years.

Athens will receive 19.4 billion euro in grants, and 12.7 million euros in loans cheap from the fund over the next few years. This is roughly 16% of its gross national product.

The conservative government of Greece plans to spend the money to improve Greece’s economy and drive its digital transformation.

($1 = 0.8768 euros)