The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the ProCredit Group have provided an additional EUR 450 million for
innovative small and medium enterprises (SME), reaching the total amount of EUR 820 million for companies in eleven countries. Of these funds,
EUR 160 million belongs to Serbia and will be realized by
ProCredit Bank Serbia in the upcoming period, the bank reported.
– The financial support by the EIF is now available through ProCredit banks from Germany to Georgia and is meant for companies using new technologies and creating new products in one of the eleven countries encompassed by the program – Germany, Albania, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia – says the press release by ProCredit Bank Serbia.
So far, over 1,000 innovative SMEs have been supported through agreements with ProCredit banks, and the number will increase in the coming years, the press release adds.
The said agreements were signed as part of the
InnovFin Initiative of the European Commission, in line with the research and innovation support program of the European Union
Horizon 2020. The InnovFin Initiative enables banks which take part in it to offer credits to innovative companies with the help of the guarantee provided by the EIF.
The agreements signed in the member-states of the EU were enabled by the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (
EFSI). The EFSI is the cornerstone of the Investment Plan for Europe of the European Commission, also known as the “Juncker Plan”.
The EFSI provides guarantees for financial losses, enabling the EIB to invest in risky projects. The EFSI is already making concrete results. It is expected that the projects and the agreements approved for financing within the EFSI so far will mobilize over EUR 209 billion for investments and support to around 427,000 SMEs in the 28 member-countries, the press release says.