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Loans worth a combined 14 bln lei granted so far under IMM Invest program
A number of 20,000 loans worth a combined 14 billion lei have been granted so far through the IMM Invest Program for small and medium-sized businesses, the general director of the National Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (FNGCIMM) Dumitru Nancu told a video conference organized by the Bursa Group on Tuesday.
"The National Guarantee Fund has four schemes in the Economic Recovery and Investment Plan and we'll be present with another five in the 2021 - 2024 programming period. IMM Invest, IMM Factor, IMM Leasing and New Home are the countercyclical measures taken by the government of Romania during this period, the most important of which is IMM Invest. 20,000 loans worth a combined 14 billion lei have been granted up until now; virtually 1.4 percent of GDP was pumped into the economy. This is the largest injection of capital by the government into small and medium-sized Romanian businesses and it does not impact the state budget, because the money is allocated by banks and the government only provides the guarantees. The impact on the state budget will be when that guarantee becomes payable," Nancu said.
The IMM Invest Romania program, Romania's largest SME-support program in the last 30 years, was approved by the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 110/2017, amended and complemented by Law No. 209/2018. In the context of the COVID pandemic, this emergency ordinance was subsequently amended and supplemented by the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 29/2020 and the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 42/2020, which brought a series of improvements for higher flexibility and better access to financing for the beneficiaries of the program.
The main benefits of the program are state guarantee for up to 90 percent of the loan, fully state-subsidized loan interest at least until the end of the year, zero fees for the state guarantee, zero early repayment fee, and a guarantee period of up to 72 months.
The Bursa press group organized today a video conference on 'European Funds', an event that discussed topics such as the Resilience and economic recovery plan - a priority for the period 2021-2023; Financing companies through IMM Invest versus EU funds; Bank loan or European non-repayable financing; Green-bonds - a solution for implementing the Green Deal; the 2021-2027 Financial framework - new financing directions.