One-fifth of Romania's IMM Invest 2021 Govt.-backed scheme already disbursed

Almost 20% of the ceiling of RON 14 bln (EUR 2.8 bln) set for this year's edition of Government bank loans guarantees scheme IMM Invest has been allocated so far, announced Dumitru Nancu, the general director of FNGCIMM - the body that manages the scheme.

Thus, the amount of loans guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs reached RON 2.7 bln (over EUR 0.5 bln), Economica.net reported.

This is the second edition of IMM Invest after a similar amount (RON 15 bln) was guaranteed by the Government through FNGCIMM in 2020.

Under the scheme, SMEs get subsidised the interest for a period of time, and the state guarantees part of the bank loan (by paying the insurance fee).

"We are only talking about amounts that have entered the accounts of small and medium enterprises. At this date, the amount guaranteed by FNGCIMM under IMM Invest is RON 2.7 bln, and the amount financed, loans extended by banks, is RON 3.3 bln [as state guarantees 80% of the principal]. The number of loans guaranteed is 3,828," said Nancu.

He confirmed the same distribution of recipient as in the previous edition: 87% of the loans went to financing the current activity of the firm (working capital) while the investment loans account for 13%.

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