August 23 (SeeNews) - Romania's finance ministry said it has increased by over 10 billion lei to a total 17.75 billion lei ($3.6 billion. 3.6 billion euro) the total amount of state guarantees on loans to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to support their activity and investment projects.
The IMM Invest Plus programme can be accessed by companies by December 31, the finance ministry said in a press release on Monday.
"We think it is very important to support the business environment and to provide the necessary money for the normal activity of SMEs, in a difficult period due to the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine," finance minister Adrian Caciu said. "Helping companies to continue their economic activity and maintain the number of employees is a priority for us, because in this way we can avoid a problem with a large social impact."
The funds will also be directed to companies which were affected by the war in Ukraine, under the European Commission's Temporary Crisis Framework, the finance ministry added.