Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium get first tranches of EU recovery funds

Reuters
·1 min read
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium on Tuesday received their first tranches of money from the 800 billion euro ($950.8 billion) EU recovery fund aimed at helping them rebound from the pandemic and make their economies greener and more digitalised.

The payout amounted to 13% of the total allocated to each of the three countries. The European Commission disbursed 2.2 billion euros to Portugal, 770 million to Belgium and 12.1 million to Luxembourg.

Further payouts are tied to the implementation of objectives and reforms set out in each country's proposal.

The EU executive has earmarked a total of 16.6 billion in grants and loans for Portugal, 5.9 billion in grants for Belgium and 93.4 million in grants for Luxembourg.

The Commission aims to raise as much as 80 billion euros by year-end to finance the recovery fund, one of several borrowing operations expected in coming years.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Nick Macfie)