June 6 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) has approved two Romanian state aid schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and companies active in the construction sector, worth a total 153.3 million euro ($165 million), the finance ministry said.
The first aid scheme, IMM Prod, is worth 54.2 million euro and aims to help SMEs to stimulate production, transform digitally or fulfil environmental objectives, the finance ministry said in a press release on Friday.
The total value of the guarantees issued under this programme is capped at 1.5 billion lei ($326 million/ 303 million euro) in 2022. The the government guarantees on up to 90% of the financing granted through the IMM Prod scheme.
The second aid scheme, Garant Construct, is worth 99.1 million euro and targets SMEs active in the construction business, along with supporting small scale construction projects launched by Romania’s administrative regions.
For this programme, the total value of the guarantees issued under this programme is capped at 2.5 billion lei.
"The approval of the European Commission practically means that the two programmes are now operational and come Monday, the 6th of June, funding can be requested from the 21 banks [participating in the programmes]. This is real support provided by the government for the business environment, but also to the administrative regions, in order to encourage local production and investment," finance minister Adrian Caciu said.
The entities which can apply for funding as part of the IMM Prod programme are SMEs including startups, self-employed professionals, or freelancers involved in production activities and have established headquarters in an urban area.
Garant Construct addresses SMEs, self-employed professionals, individual and family-run enterprises, as well as architects and architecture firms.
(1 euro = 4.9427 Romanian lei)