October 21 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank Group concluded an agreement with Romania and the European Commission for the implementation of a EU Initiative to back small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country that is expected to provide about 580 million euro ($636 million) in new financing, EIB said.
Following the agreement, the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of EIB Group, will shortly publish an open call for expression of interest, inviting banks and other financial intermediaries to apply, EIB said in a press release on Thursday. Once selected, these banks and other financial intermediaries will make new funding opportunities available to SMEs.
Romania will contribute with 100 million euro from its European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI) to the EU's SME initiative, which will be leveraged with commercial lending through a risk-sharing mechanism, EIB added.
EIF's central mission is to support European SMEs by helping them to access finance.
“I am pleased that EIF and Romania are implementing this joint initiative, which should generate 580 million euro of SME financing. (...) The combination of ESI Funds, EU Horizon 2020 and EIB Group resources allows EIF to provide risk-sharing and capital relief to financial intermediaries to benefit SMEs,” EIF Head of Mandate Management Hubert Cottogni said in the press release.
The funds will be provided under the Operational Programme SME Initiative for Romania, which the country adopted in March to boost the competitiveness of its SMEs through increased access to finance.
"The EIB has provided more than 10 billion euro of lending since it started its operations in Romania back in 1990. Between 2011 and 2015 EIB provided 2.6 billion euro of new financing, in various sectors. EIB activity perspectives in Romania for the current year are strong, with over 900 million euro of operations already signed, including today’s SME Initiative,” EIB vice-president Andrew McDowell said.
($=0.9121 euro)