June 24 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it is extending a 16.5 million euro ($18.8 million) financing package to Banca Intesa Belgrade to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia.
Out of the total, 15 million euro will go for on-lending to SMEs to help them carry out investments that will improve their competitiveness at home and abroad, and assist in implementing EU standards, the EBRD said in a statement late on Friday.
"In addition to loans, SMEs will also benefit from investment incentives from the European Union equalling 15% of the loan amount, as well as from advice and know-how to introduce EU standards," EBRD said.
The remaining 1.5 million euro will go exclusively to support women entrepreneurs. This is an extension to a previous 10 million euro credit line aimed at supporting Serbian businesswomen.
"Small and medium-sized enterprises and female entrepreneurship have great potential to drive sustainable economic growth and to increase employment in our country, which is why Banca Intesa puts a special emphasis precisely on these segments of the economy", the head of Banca Intesa's executive board, Draginja Djuric, said.
($=0.878126 euro)