RO Govt. unblocks EUR 300 mln grants for agriculture and food processing

Grants for working capital summing up to EUR 300 mln were approved for four major fields - food industry, aquaculture, fisheries and agriculture, the minister of investments and European projects, Marcel Bolos, announced on May 7.

The aid is aimed to offset the rising prices of the inputs, particularly fuel and fertilizers.

Out of the total, EUR 50 mln will be disbursed as individual micro-grants of EUR 5,000 each to micro-enterprises, freelancers, family and individual enterprises.

The second part of the scheme is called "Working Capital Grants," and the budget for this measure is EUR 250 mln.

"Thus, grants of 15% of the turnover, but not more than EUR 120,000 per recipient, will be granted for small and medium enterprises. The estimated number of beneficiaries is 10,000," minister Bolos explained, quoted by News.ro.

The opening of calls for micro-grants is on May 27, and for working capital grants, on May 26. The state aid scheme has been pre-notified to the European Commission, but the final approval was not received yet. Minister Bolos also said that the number of beneficiaries would reach 20,000.

(Photo: Gov.ro)