Government of the Republic of Serbia
Two new contracts were signed within the European COSME programme for the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises at the Government of the Republic of Serbia on 11 May. This will secure direct guarantees for banks to support around 4600 small and medium enterprises in Serbia with EUR 200 million. The contracts were signed with UniCredit Bank and Banca Intesa which was the first bank to join this programme and through which EUR 60 million in loans were already awarded.
The Contract was signed by the Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund Pier Luigi Gilibert, the President of the Banca Intesa Executive Board Draginja Đurić and the Chairman of the Management Board of UniCredit Bank Serbia Csilla Ihász.
The Minister of Economy Goran Knežević, who attended the signing of the agreements, stated that Serbia, the same as Europe, drew its biggest potential and strength from small and medium enterprises, which made up 98% of business entities in Serbia and contributed more than 50% to the GDP of Serbia.
According to him, the support provided within the Year of Entrepreneurship so far has led to an increase in profit by around 70% in SMEs and the creation of 30,000 new jobs, which lead to declaring this decade the Decade of Entrepreneurship.
He highlighted that the COSME programme was significant for Serbia, as it provided new funds under favourable conditions for small and medium enterprises.
The contract signed with UniCredit Bank will enable new crediting of up to EUR 100 million, and the funds will be provided in the next three years to around 2,400 SMEs. The annex to the contract with Banca Intesa will enable it to support another 2,200 SMEs with additional EUR 100 million, following the successful realisation of EUR 60 million in loans which were part of the contract from December 2016.
Source: Beta, taken from www.euractiv.rs
pdf [271 KB]
Leave a Comment