Nordic governments explore joint loans to fund defense buildup

Nordic governments are exploring the opportunities for a proposal to permit the Helsinki-based Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) to provide loans to defense companies in the private and public sectors. 

That is reported by Defense News.

The NIB was founded by the five Nordic states in 1975 and was intended to function as a financial institution supporting the regional and international growth of non-defense industries. Currently, the bank is primarily funding projects within infrastructure and green transformation. 

Most Nordic states, led by Sweden and Norway, want to strike a balance between those activities and the additional field of national and regional security, like drone systems and and surveillance technologies.

“The NIB hasn’t in the past financed defense companies in the military-industry complex. However, the world has changed,” said André Küüsvek, the NIB’s chief executive. “Such a development can have immense symbolic value. It’s a change in our business under consideration by our owner governments.”