Romanian banks have already extended state-guaranteed loans worth RON 2.45 billion (EUR 510 mln) to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the IMM Invest program.

"There are 3,083 companies that took financing under IMM Invest. The total value of the loans granted is RON 2.45 bln. The pace of submitting loan requests has accelerated," finance minister Florin Citu announced on June 4, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

Local SMEs have submitted some 60,000 loan requests, which means that just over 5% of the applications account for 16% of the total budget of the IMM Invest program (RON 15 bln, EUR 3 bln).

The state guarantees cover 90% of the value of loans.

The Government has also earmarked RON 781 mln (EUR 160 mln) out of this year's budget to pay the interest charged by banks for the loans granted under the IMM Invest scheme by the end of this year.

(Photo: Ilona Andrei/ Inquam Photos)

editor@romania-insider.com