Sun, Nov 22 2009

EIB increases support for SME projects in Romania by 140 million euro

Tue, Sep 01 2009 15:39 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer 685 Views
EIB increases support for SME projects in Romania by 140 million euro

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing two intermediated loans to support the projects of small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania: 80 million euro to Bancpost S.A. and 60 million euro to EFG Leasing IFN S.A.

The loan to Bancpost Romania will finance small and medium-scale projects promoted by SMEs in various sectors of industry, agriculture, tourism and services, the EIB said in a media statement on September 1 2009.

This is the second intermediated loan provided by the EIB to Bancpost, following a good track record with the previous EIB loan of 20 million euro in 2006, which was used to finance projects promoted by Romanian municipalities, the EIB said. It is also viewed as a further extension of the EIB’s relationship with the Eurobank EFG Group, with which the Bank is engaged in extensive co-operation in South-East Europe.

The loan to EFG Leasing Romania will support smaller projects in Romania in the areas of industry, services including tourism, agriculture, health, energy and environmental protection, usually promoted by SMEs, with up to 30 per cent also being available to finance the projects of mid-cap enterprises and public sector entities.

This is the EIB’s third operation in Romania with a financial institution operating in the leasing sector. In the framework of this loan, EFG Leasing Romania will also benefit from the SME Finance Facility, a special grant scheme promoted by the European Commission focused on further developing strong and competitive small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania, providing the EIB’s partner financial institutions with incentives to lend to SMEs.

EIB loans for SMEs are aimed at reducing the impact of the current economic crisis by improving access to medium and long-term funds on advantageous financial terms.

To these ends, the EIB has also simplified its procedures and is broadening the scope of its financing by also covering intangible types of investment and working capital.

In addition, it is increasing transparency by working towards a more effective transfer of the advantage of EIB funds to the final beneficiaries.

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