20th May 2018, Skopje – EUR 136 million will be made available to small- and medium-sized enterprises, provided from the European Investment Bank, EBRD and EU investment grants.
This was announced by Minister of Finance Dragan Tevdovski in an interview for MIA, pointing out the importance of the support from the foreign investment banks to the private sector in Macedonia, especially to small- and medium-sized enterprises, which need access to cheap funds.
– Discussions at the recent EBRD Annual Meetings were related to EBRD Programme for improving the competitiveness and the innovation of local small- and medium-sized enterprises. It is a matter of EUR 30 million lending from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, coupled with EUR 6 million in investment grants and technical assistance from the EU. As a result of this Programme, domestic commercial banks would be incentivized to expand lending to the local companies under more favourable conditions. In June, it is expected for an agreement for the initial EUR 10 million to be signed with the commercial banks, after which they would be made available to the companies, Tevdovski said.
He went on that in the second half of the year, EUR 100 million would be made available to the small- and medium-sized enterprises from the EIB cheap credit line.
– Procedure for concluding agreement for new tranche with EIB has been commenced. It is expected for the agreement to be signed in the second half of the year, after which the loans under favourable terms and conditions, will be made available to the small- and medium-sized enterprises through the Macedonian Bank for Development Promotion – Minister of Finance said.
He stressed that the Government strives for the major infrastructure projects to be funded by utilizing the available funds.
– Commitment to utilizing the available funds is especially important in light of solid public debt management, given that significantly less liability would be incurred in future. Support in the form of loans from development banks is also significant since it is a matter of low interest rates and longer repayment periods, Minister of Finance said in an interview for MIA.
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