CHEAPER LOANS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES TO BE GUARANTEED WITH MONEY FROM EU FUNDS

"EU funds will be used for the granting of cheaper loans to businesses," summarised Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, the benefits of a loan agreement, signed yesterday between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and five Bulgarian banks, selected under the JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) initiative. The financial institutions (CiBank, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and Unicredit Bulbank) will extend to SMEs credits amounting to €400 mln in the next 30 months, under guarantees of €78 mln, provided by the EIF under the agreement.


Four types of funds were agreed under the JEREMIE initiative, one of which is the Guarantee Fund, with a total resource of over BGN 1 bn. "Around BGN 340 mln of this money is allocated under OP Competitiveness, some BGN 60 mln is earmarked from the State budget and the rest of the funds will come from the private sector," explained Traicho Traikov.

"The credit conditions for businesses will ease due to the lower interest rates and fees, there will be discounts in the collateral requirements," pointed out the heads of the selected banks. "Banks will provide the money, the Fund will cover eventual losses," explained Stilian Vatev, Executive Director of UBB. Peter Slavov from ProCredit Bank added that the most important thing was that in this way entrepreneurs would be motivated to be more risk-prone in their investment decisions and seek more risky but profitable ventures.

The maximum loan amount is €1.875 mln, while the limit for projects in the transport sector is set at €937, 000. There are also sectors banned from financing, such as hotel and restaurant keeping, and some farming activities. "Investment loans in BGN and Euro, and working capital loans associated with investment projects are eligible under the financing scheme," explained experts from CiBank.

Despite the fact that the heads of the five selected banks shared the opinion that, because of the guarantee provided by the EIF, the risk and interest rate for the beneficiary will be reduced, they were not willing to state in public specific figures.