June 29 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it is extending a 40 million euro ($47.7 million) loan to Kosovo to help local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) finance their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The funding will be provided to Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF) to issue credit guarantees to local lenders and provide financing for small businesses under favourable terms and conditions for working capital and longer-term capital investments, the EIB said in a press release on Monday.
The funds will target specific economic sectors such as production, agriculture, services, women and ICT entrepreneurship, to boost the competitiveness, growth and resilience of Kosovo’s economy.
"These funds signed today will help Kosovo’s economy not only to ‘get back on track’ by injecting liquidity into the market, but to evolve and develop in all major target sectors. They will contribute to the resilience of Kosovo’s economy, helping it to revive its supply and production capacities, retain jobs and reinforce its competitiveness and role in the regional and EU market," EIB vice-president responsible for the Western Balkans, Lilyana Pavlova, said in the statement.
The EIB financing is part of a 1.7 billion euro financial package under the Team Europe initiative to help the Western Balkans in the recovery from Covid-19.
($ = 0.8387 euro)