Today, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Banca Intesa signed an agreement in Belgrade to extend EUR 60 million in financing to small and medium enterprises in Serbia within the European Union COSME programme.
Banca Intesa Executive Board President Draginja Djuric, who signed the agreement in the presence of the Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic and the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport, said that those loans would be granted for a period of 36 months, without a mortgage, in the maximum amount of EUR150,000.
The lowest interest rate is 2.39 percent, she added and, depending on credit rating of a company, the interest rates could go up to 7.75 percent and would be applied to companies that were not eligible for loans within regular banking activities.
Loan beneficiaries, SMEs and entrepreneurs, can use the money for working capital purposes as well, Djuric said.
Davenport said that SMEs and micro enterprises were the backbone of any economy, adding that in Serbia they make up 98 percent of all companies, employ 65 percent of all employees and account for 56 percent of the country’s economy.
According to him, the biggest obstacle for SMEs is the access to finance, adding that the access to funding was a real incentive to growth.
In the context of Serbia’s EU accession, Davenport said that within the chapter 20 – entrepreneurship and industrial policy – Serbia was expected to reduce the costs of financing for SMEs.
We are encouraged by the fact that this is happening in the Year of Entrepreneurship, Davenport said and reminded that the EU funded SMEs in the poorest Serbian municipalities through the European PROGRES programme and other IPA funds.
EU Guarantees Director Gunnar Mai said the EIF backed 100,000 SMEs in 21 countries, including Serbia.
