Romanian Govt.-backed SME financing might not kick up as fast as expected

Bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the Government-backed program IMM Invest might not surge as fast as expected, shows a survey carried out by Economica.net among the banks that have received massive loan requests.

Firstly, there are bureaucratic obstacles that don't allow quick endorsement of the loan requests, according to the survey.

Then there's the high number of applications to be processed, which equals the number of requests that banks usually receive in six months of regular activity.

However, there are also economic reasons for the banks not to be particularly interested in extending loans under the terms set by the Government in the program.

After the grace period expires, the SMEs will pay an interest of 2pp or 2.5pp over the interbank interest rate for 3-month funds - that is, around 4.43%, compared to 5.76% - the average interest rate charged by banks to SMEs on the free market.

The banks say that they will extend loans only based on the projects. And sometimes the SMEs' plans are simply unrealistic, Raiffeisen Bank vice president Cristian Sporis said.

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