BELGRADE (Serbia), May 11 (SeeNews) – Serbia's government said on Thursday the European Investment Fund (EIF), UniCredit Bank Srbija and Banca Intesa Beograd have signed guarantee agreements to support some 4,600 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The aim of the agreements is to facilitate access to finance for SMEs in Serbia by providing credit guarantees on 200 million euro ($217.1 million) worth of loans over the next three years, the government said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreements, concluded under the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), UniCredit Bank Srbija will ensure funding worth 100 million euro to about 2,400 SMEs, while Banca Intesa Beograd will make available financing of the same amount to 2,200 companies.
SMEs represent 98% of all companies active in Serbia, provide two-thirds of jobs in the non-financial sector and generate 50% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), Serbian economy minister Goran Knezevic said during the signing ceremony, according to the statement.
In December, the EIF said it signed a guarantee agreement with Banca Intesa Beograd to provide 60 million euro in loans to Serbian SMEs in two years. The agreement was the first one under COSMEin Serbia. COSME is running between 2014 and 2020 with a planned budget of 2.3 billion euro.
($ = 0.921334 euro)
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