The Senate voted on Wednesday, February 21, a law draft for setting up Romania’s Development Bank - BDR, which will support entrepreneurship and the country’s social and economic development.

The draft bill was initiated by MPs of the ruling coalition made of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats (ALDE).

BDR should finance especially to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and major infrastructure projects, according to the bill. The bank will be able to grand direct loans but shouldn’t compete with commercial banks but rather intervene when there’s a financing deficit. The bank won’t be able to draw deposits from private clients.

BDR will have an initial capital of RON 1 billion (EUR 215 million), which will be provided from the state budget.

This is the second legislative initiative on creating a state development bank adopted by the Senate. Last year, the Senate also adopted a bill that provided the transformation of state-owned lender Eximbank into a development bank. That bill was initiated by current finance minister Eugen Teodorovici.

The finance minister commented that the two bills should be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies so that in the end only one such initiative is adopted.

editor@romania-insider.com