December 10 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is providing a 5 million euro ($6 million) loan to OTP Bank Albania, part of Hungarian financial services group OTP, for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The loan is part of an initiative of the EBRD and the European Union (EU) aimed at increasing competitiveness of SMEs across the Western Balkans, the EBRD said in a statement.
Under the SME competitiveness programme, the EBRD and the EU provide loans to firms for production facilities and equipment renovation, as well as improvements to meet EU standards and to become more resilient and competitive.
"Following the successful roll-out in other countries of the region, we are confident that the programme will also help Albanian SMEs to introduce EU standards, improving their performance and becoming more competitive, particularly on export markets,” Matteo Colangeli, EBRD associate director, head of Albania, said in the statement.
($ = 0.8246 euro)
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