March 8 (SeeNews) - Romania's government has approved a state aid scheme worth 12.5 billion lei ($2.75 billion/2.52 billion euro) aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the ministry of finance said.
The new scheme, named IMM Plus, can be accessed by SMEs until June 30, 2024, the ministry said on Thursday.
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The programme's budget of 12.5 billion lei includes 11.1 billion lei in loan guarantees. A total of 11,500 beneficiaries will be financed through the scheme, which aims to support companies that cannot otherwise continue operating or investing in their development in the context of the crisis triggered by Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
"We want to support vital sectors such as agriculture, construction, production and to make sure that we offer innovative Romanian companies the opportunity to reach their potential," minister of finance Marcel Bolos said.
The maximum value of the individual loans has been increased to 2.25 million euro for a single company or administrative territorial unit from 2 million euro during the former IMM Invest Plus scheme. The loan ceiling for companies in primary agriculture rose to 280,000 euro from 250,000 euro, while fishery and aquaculture companies can receive up to 335,000 euro as part of the scheme, increased from 300,000 euro during the previous programme.
(1 euro=4.9691 lei)