BUCHAREST (Romania), January 9 (SeeNews) -The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) said on Thursday it has provided a loan in lei equivalent to 7 million euro ($7.8 million) to BT Microfinantare to expand access to local currency finance for micro and small enterprises in Romania.
BT Microfinantare (BT Mic), part of Banca Transilvania financial group (BT), is exclusively focused on financing MSEs, a still largely underserved segment in Romania, but a key contributor to employment and economic growth in the country, EFSE said in a press release.
"We are proud to be supporting BT Mic. EFSE recognises the crucial role MSEs play in developing the economy of Romania; the new loan facility will allow BT Mic to provide financing to more than 800 growing businesses in their own local currency, thus protecting them from exchange rate risk," EFSE board chairman, Christoph Tiskens, said.
To date, BT Mic supports the business development of over 10,000 entrepreneurs and with the EFSE loan, the institution is expected to further increase its outreach.
"EFSE decided to join us in this journey more than one year ago, and now we are glad to expand our collaboration. We share the same vision and goals with regard to the MSE sector and we aim to contribute more to its development through a sustainable lending approach," BT Mic CEO, Cristina Sindile, said.
This is the second loan that EFSE provides to BT Mic. In January 2019, it has provided BT Mic with 7 million euro loan to support SMEs.
EFSE was initiated by German development bank KfW with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission. It aims to foster economic development and prosperity in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Turkey.
($ = 0.8984 euro)
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