KBC Bank obtained loan from European Investment Bank for loans for SME - entrepreneurs to get 20m EUR

KBC Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed the contract on the credit amounting to 20m EUR for the loans for small and mid-sized enterprises and the investment projects of local self-governments in Serbia.

- The guarantee for the credit has been provided by KBC Dublin - people from KBC Bank announced today (January 27, 2010).

KBC bank will provide additional 20m EUR from its own sources for the loans for small enterprises and the projects of SME and local self-governments.

The contract stipulates that 70% of total amount of the credit line be used for the loans for small and mid-sized enterprises, while the rest will be granted to local self-governments or other juristic persons for implementation of the projects in the domains of knowledge economy, energy, environment protection, health care and education, industry, tourism and other services.

The repayment period for the loans for SME projects is from 4 to 12 years, while the repayment period for the loans for the projects of local self-governments is from 4 to 15 years, with the grace period of 12 months.

The conditions for approval of loans to SME are that they have less than 250 employees and that the value of total investment does not exceed 25m EUR. EIB can finance up to 100% of the investment if its total amount does not exceed 12.5m EUR.

It is also stated that the loans for local self-governments and other users can be spent on the research and development costs, capital funds, construction of distributive network and procurement of tangible assets, exclusive of land.

KBC Bank has 71 offices in Serbia. It is a member of KBC Group, which is present in 35 countries worldwide and has over 12m clients.