(Bloomberg) --

The Nordic and Baltic countries instructed their joint investment bank to increase lending to businesses to the maximum limit to protect their economies from the impact of the coronavirus.

“We have to help our companies as best possible through the crisis,” Danish Business Minister Simon Kollerup said in a statement Saturday. “We must use all the tools in the toolbox.”

Ministers want the Nordic Investment Bank to extend loans to banks for dispersal to smaller companies, and to provide direct financing to large businesses to help weather the crisis, according to a March 27 statement.

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