The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed two loans totalling €45m in Serbia with two different local financial institutions in support of the projects of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructure schemes promoted by local authorities.
The loans, designed to assist Serbia in its efforts to integrate into the European Union, include:
– a €25m deal with Erste Bank Novi Sad
– a €20m deal with KBC Banka
The operations, which constitute the first direct lending to the two borrowers, aim at financing SME projects, small and medium-sized infrastructure schemes promoted by local authorities and industrial investments in the fields of the knowledge economy, energy, environmental protection, health and education.
The EIB will finance up to 100% of the total project cost for SMEs (with a maximum of €12.5m per project) and up to 50% for other types of project.
A minimum of 70% of the loan will be allocated to SME lending.
FinSMEs
28/01/2010