The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Raiffeisen Bank, have signed a COSME agreement that will allow the Bank to provide RON 800,000,000 (ca. EUR 177m) in loans to small and medium-sized Romanian businesses.
The agreement signed on 11th of May 2017 will allow Raiffeisen Bank, to provide SMEs with loans benefiting from reduced collateral requirements, extended maturities and to support start-ups which have a limited access to lending. Around 2,000 Romanian SMEs are expected to benefit from these loans.
This agreement was made possible by the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The EFSI is the central pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called „Juncker Plan”.
Corina Creţu, Commissioner for Regional Policy, said: „The Juncker Plan is working to support jobs and spur growth across Europe. Facilitating access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses is an important component of the Plan. I am delighted that, with today’s agreement, more Romanian businesses will be able to invest in expansion, job-creation and innovation thanks to the Juncker Plan.”
The Investment Plan is already expected to mobilise around EUR 743 million in investments in Romania and EUR 178 billion across Europe as a whole.
About the Investment Plan for Europe
The Investment Plan for Europe is a collective and coordinated effort at European level to encourage investment in the real economy in order to:
- boost job creation and economic growth;
- meet the long-term needs of the economy and increase competitiveness;
- help strengthen Europe’s productive capacity and infrastructure.
An important overarching aim of the Investment Plan is to improve the investment environment, both at the European level and at the level of individual Member States. Work is underway to address barriers with an EU and Single Market dimension, as well as regulatory and non-regulatory investment challenges at national level.
Since the global economic and financial crisis, the EU has been suffering from low levels of investment. Collective and coordinated efforts at European level are needed to reverse this downward trend and put Europe on the path of economic recovery.
Adequate levels of resources are available and need to be mobilised across the EU in support of investment. There is no single, simple answer, no growth button that can be pushed, and no one-size-fits-all solution.
The Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called Juncker Plan, is one of the European Commission’s top priorities. It focuses on boosting investments to create jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment and providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the central pillar of the Juncker Plan. It provides a first loss guarantee, allowing the EIB to invest in more, often riskier, projects. The EFSI is already showing concrete results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under the EFSI so far are expected to mobilise more than EUR 183 billion in investments and support over 425,000 SMEs across all 28 Member States.
In September 2016, President Juncker proposed to extend the EFSI by increasing its firepower and duration as well as reinforcing its strengths.