Only 10% of Romania’s SMEs are eligible for bank loans

Only 10% of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Romania are eligible to contract bank loans, but the situation could improve if they increase productivity, said Florin Danescu, president of the Romanian Banks Association (ARB). About 80,000 local SMEs have contracted loans so far, whereas only 45,000 (10.4% in total) currently qualify for a credit, Danescu pointed out. The Romanian SMEs are not focused enough on productivity, which is essential for development. The ARB’s representative underlined that bureaucracy is one of the major factors hampering SME’s productivity. He gave as example the need of electronic signature in Romania, which would save a lot of the work time for many SMEs employees and significantly improve productivity. editor@romania-insider.com