BKT Kosovo gets 22 mln euro loans from EFSE, GGF

EFSE has extended a loan of 15 million euro to BKT Kosovo to provide sustainable financing to MSMEs, as well as to help the bank increase its agricultural lending, particularly for rural farmers across Kosovo, the fund said in a press release on Friday.

GGF has provided a 7 million euro subordinated loan to BKT Kosovo to increase its energy and resource efficiency lending in urban and semi-urban areas of Kosovo to MSMEs, private individuals and renewable energy projects, GGF said in a separate statement on Monday.

As part of the loan contract with GGF, BKT Kosovo will also benefit from technical assistance which aims to build sustainability into BKT’s core business operations, improve their environmental and social management system, and strengthen their green lending capacities, GGF added.

EFSE was established in 2005 as an initiative by Germany’s KfW Development Bank with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission (EC). The fund aims to foster economic development and prosperity in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Neighbourhood Region by investing in micro and small enterprises as well as improved living conditions for private households.

GGF was initiated as a public-private partnership in December 2009 by KfW Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, with financial support from the EC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Austrian Development Bank (OeEB). The fund invests in measures designed to cut energy use and CO2 emissions, and improve resource efficiency in markets across Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Moldova, the Middle East and North Africa.

($ = 0.9863 euro)