The European Commission (EC) has approved EUR4 billion in state aid for companies in Romania and the country’s finance ministry will use it for the IMM Invest.
The Commission approved a support package for companies in Romania in the amount of nearly RON20 billion (EUR4 billion), according to the EC representatives. The Commission said the state aid can be used for any company regardless of its size or the sector in which it operates.
Margaret Vestager, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, said the aid scheme worth EUR4 billion will enable Romania to mitigate the economic impact of the current geopolitical crisis on enterprises across all sectors.
The Romanian Government, through the finance ministry, will use the funds to supplement the IMM Invest Plus program, according to Ziarul Financiar (ZF) daily.
The aid will take the form of guarantees for loans, with a maximum budget of EUR3.6 billion and direct grants, with a maximum budget of EUR390 million.
During the two-year period since the state aid scheme under the IMM Invest program was put in place, a total 60,000 companies have received state-guaranteed loans, with a total value of RON33 billion (EUR6.8 billion).
For investments, the maximum ceiling that can be granted to a beneficiary is RON10 million (EUR2 million) and for the working capital the ceiling is EUR1 million. The scheme will be carried out until the end of 2022 and has four components: IMM Invest Romania, Agro IMM Invest, IMM Prod and Garant Construct.