Romanian SMEs get additional EU financing options worth EUR 59 mln

The Ministry of European Funds (MFE) and the European Investments Fund (FEI) signed on Tuesday the Financing Agreement for Competitiveness Fund for Funds creation, aiming to improve the financing access under risk capital and loans for the innovative firms from Romania.

The financial instruments within the Competitiveness Operational Program (POC), valued at EUR 59.3 million, are allocated to the financing need of SMEs, which are struggling to get bank loans. The solutions are the investment funds for entrepreneurship worth EUR 40 million and a loan instrument with granted interest and the shared risk totaling EUR 19.3 million, available through the intermediary financial institutions.

„The preparation of the financial instruments for competitiveness represent an important step for the future.We have to think from now at getting to the next stage, in which the EU funds will represent more financial instruments than grants,” said Cristian Ghinea, the minister of European Funds.

„The successful implementation of the JEREMIE initiative encouraged the continuation of our partnership with the Romanian Government for financing the SMEs. Based on the successes from the past, we go now to the widening of the financial instruments range, offering the business ideas the necessary support to grow and innovate,” said Piotr Stolowski, the director for Central and Eastern Europe director at the European Investments Fund.

Three financial instruments were created though JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises). This initiative, worth EUR 225 million, supported 6,000 loans and investments for SMEs valued at EUR 600 million.