March 31 (SeeNews) - The European Commission approved the reintroduction of a 7.2 million euro ($7.97 million) Romanian state aid scheme, geared towards covering financial risks for export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the event of non-payment from foreign buyers, the Commission said on Thursday.
Eligible SMEs are those with a turnover no larger than 2.5 million euro, the Commission said in a statement. The Romanian state will only cover transactions not already covered by insurance.
The scheme will run until December 31, 2026.
While insurance for larger exporters is available on the private market, SMEs do not constitute an attractive proposition for insurance companies. Equally, the absence of private insurers which cover individual export transactions justify the renewal of the state aid scheme, the Commission concluded.
The export-credit insurance scheme has been running since August 2014, and initially covered SMEs with a turnover of 2 million euro. It has been renewed twice.
(1 euro = 1.1 U.S. dollars)