Macedonia’s Ohridska Banka gets 13 mln euro from EBRD for SME credits

One facility – a 10 million euro credit line – will be used to finance capital investments, export and pre-export financing needs of Macedonian SMEs, the EBRD said in a statement.

The second facility, a 3.0 euro million loan under the Private Sector Support Facility (PSSF), will be an extension of the current 5.0 million euro PSSF line that Ohridska Banka has been utilising successfully in the past two years.

The proceeds of the PSSF loan will be used to support the development of Macedonian businesses with investments to improve environmental, health and safety standards and product quality in line with EU requirements.

“Ohridska Banka is the EBRD’s most active partner bank in Macedonia. Together, we have already provided 15 million euro in loans to local enterprises; these new transactions will provide additional financing to SMEs, especially in the loan segment of up to 1.0 million euro,” Elena Urumovska, head of the EBRD’s Skopje resident office, said.

Ohridska Banka a.d. Ohrid is an existing client of the EBRD and has previously completed three transactions with the bank.

Since the beginning of its operations in Macedonia, the EBRD has invested over 1.1 billion euro in the country in more than 80 projects.

The Western Balkans Private Sector Support Facility is a framework that supports businesses in implementing energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy projects and improving competitiveness.

($=0.7548 euro)