Romanian companies will receive up to EUR1.38 billion under the program.
New deals and amendments to the existing agreements with Romanian financial intermediaries for increased volumes were signed. These transactions with CEC Bank, Banca Comerciala Romana, BRD – Groupe Societe Generale, Libra Internet Bank, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and Unicredit Bank, and the existing transactions with Banca Transilvania and ING Bank Romania, are expected to benefit around 5,000 SMEs and start-ups in need of finance. The agreements with the financial institutions mentioned aim to facilitate access to finance for Romanian SMEs by providing a 60% guarantee on each loan and by lowering the interest rates charged by banks, EIB said in a statement.
“The SME Initiative is combining structural funds with other EU and EIB resources to make loans available to 5,000 Romanian SMEs on better terms, helping to create badly needed jobs in the private sector. This has already worked really well in the last year, which is why we are now more than doubling the size of the initiative,” said EIB vice-president Andrew McDowell.
“Romania is among the few EU Member States that are implementing this initiative and we have duly turned it into a hallmark program for our SMEs. More than 2,000 Romanian SMEs have benefited from this initiative, with almost EUR 500m committed in their support. Together with our partners, we aim to further build on this initiative in our drive to make SMEs the backbone of our economy,” said Romanian finance minister Eugen Teodorovici.