Greece 2.0: Offer of business loans totaling 2.5 billion euros to SMEs through InvestEU
Guarantee program, which will give the possibility of granting business loans, working capital and investment purpose, totaling 2.5 billion euros, to small and medium-sized enterprises in the country, announced the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis, in the context of an event on the possibilities of utilizing the funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”.
The event was organized by the Economic Chamber of Greece, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Special Coordination Service of the Recovery Fund and took place in Thessaloniki, on the afternoon of Monday, June 20.
Especially with regard to the new financing tool for business loans announced by Mr. Skylakakis, in the framework of the Recovery Fund, Greece commits 500 million euro. Funds that will be made available to finance the national window of InvestEU for investments in the country.
“To this end, we are in close cooperation with the European Commission, the European Investment Fund (EIF) of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), so that the approval of the relevant program can proceed in July”, stressed Mr. Skylakakis.
As he explained, in essence, the EUR 500 million is not enough. euros of “Greece 2.0” that will be channeled into the specific financial instrument, will act as a guarantee, in order for the Greek commercial banks cooperating with the program to grant working capital and investment loans to very small, small and medium businesses, totaling around 2.5 billion euros, from the beginning of 2023.
The benefits of business loans through InvestEU
Mr Skylakakis underlined that within the framework of the program, small and medium-sized enterprises will have lower funding costs. At the same time, the collateral requirement will be lower.
It is worth noting that for the first time the national part of this European program is activated, with the sole aim of targeting Greek businesses.
The InvestEU program is activated in parallel with the broad lending program of 11.7 billion euros. Program implemented in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”. The ultimate goal is to cover the significant investment and financing gap in the entire range of businesses.