PODGORICA (Montenegro), December 14 (SeeNews) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Montenegro's Podgoricka Banka, a unit of Hungarian financial services group OTP, have agreed a 20 million euro ($24 million) credit line for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Balkan country, EIB said.
The credit line will back Montenegrin SMEs and mid-caps operating in some of the sectors of the economy worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as services and wholesale/retail trade, the EIB said in a press release on Friday.
The credit line will enable Montenegrin SMEs to address liquidity constraints for short-term working capital needs, as well as longer-term investments, thereby contributing to faster economic and social recovery from the downturn caused by the pandemic.
"With the credit line we signed today, we are also reinforcing the Montenegrin banking sector and strengthening its ability to finance the economic recovery," EIB vice-president responsible for the Western Balkans, Lilyana Pavlova said.
The loan forms part of Team Europe’s COVID-19 response for the Western Balkans, and of the 3.3 billion euro EU package for the Western Balkans announced at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Zagreb in May 2020, the EIB noted.
"Timely measures are now important, and we are pleased that this credit line with the EIB will provide support to Montenegrin SMEs and mid-caps in the most affected sectors of the economy and help them to overcome the consequences of the pandemic for their liquidity while supporting their new investment cycle," said Pal Kovacs, CEO of CKB, with which Podgoricka banka will be merged in a few days.
This is the third EIB loan to Montenegro under Team Europe's COVID-19 financial measures, bringing to 100 million euro the bank’s support to Montenegrin SMEs in 2020.
($ = 0.822856 euro)
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