The Small Agricultural Entrepreneurship Loan Fund of 61.5 million euros is activated
The budget for the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Small Loan Fund amounts to 61.5 million euros, as the signature of the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Nikos Papathanasis activated a previous decision of the Minister of Rural Development and of Food, Lefteris Avgenakis and the Deputy Minister, Dionysis Stamenitis.
The initial budget of the Fund was 21.5 million euros and with this decision it was increased by 40 million euros.
According to an announcement by the HYPAAT, the aim is to support businesses in the agri-food sector, especially those that have been “hit” by severe weather, but also the support of those interested in moving forward in investments.
Who are the beneficiaries for the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Small Loans Fund
The beneficiaries of TaMiDAE are:
- professional farmers
- legal entities whose main activity is agriculture
- new farmers
- recognized farmers’ collective schemes and
- small and medium manufacturing enterprises with finished product agricultural
Through the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Small Loans Fund, loans from 3,000 euros to 25,000 euros are provided with a repayment period of 2 to 5 years, while the possibility of extending the repayment period is already being considered. In each loan, 50% is granted by the Rural Development Program (RDP) through the Fund and is interest-free, and the remaining 50% from the cooperating banks. In addition, the PAA through the Fund provides a two-year interest rate subsidy for the part of the loan provided by the banks. The result of the above is that the beneficiaries have a zero interest rate for the first two years of repaying their loan and for the rest of the period they only have an interest rate for 50% of their total loan, i.e. for that part of it in which the bank participates.
Native-domain support
“The primary sector is a key pillar of the Greek economy and for this reason we proceeded with a significant increase of 186.05% of the budget for the Small Agricultural Entrepreneurship Loan Fund” said Mr. Avgenakis and added: “This decision reflects the practical support of the political leadership towards the primary sector and its intention to provide every Strong support for businesses in the agri-food sector affected by the recent disasters in Greece. The government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, once again, supports our farmers with actions and not words, but also businesses in the sector. We continue strongly on their side”.
For his part, Mr. Papathanasis argued that “the decision to increase the budget for the Small Agricultural Entrepreneurship Loan Fund by 40 million euros comes to be added to the multi-level initiatives of the Mitsotakis government to support entrepreneurship, especially small and medium-sized businesses in critical sectors for the national economy, such as the primary domain. As well as the practical help that we provided from the first moment to those affected by the unprecedented disasters and the consequences of the climate crisis“. He added that “initiatives such as increasing the resources of TaMiDAE, will continue and be intensified in the context of our commitment to put into practice everything we promised. With the aim not only that no one is left behind, but that our farmers, young men and women, stay where they are, invest in a safe and friendly environment and see their incomes increase“.