Government of Italy to invest additional 30m EUR in development of private entrepreneurship in Serbia

- The Government of Italy has approved additional 30 million EUR for approval of loans to small and mid-sized enterprises in Serbia. The negotiations will start at the beginning of Fall 2006 - said the project manager Mira Tumara.

The negotiations about those 30m EUR would start after the realization of the second installment of the existing credit line, through which the Government of Italy intended to help the development of private sector in Serbia with 33.25m EUR, said Tumara.

So far, over 60 credit requests have been granted. The amount of the approved credits in the first installment, within only month and half, is 5.12m EUR. The realization of the second installment is in progress and 2m of planned 10m have been approved. The third installment will also amount to 10m, whereas the fourth and the last amounts to 8.12m EUR.

The terms for the approval of loans are very good: the repayment period is up to 8 years with the grace period of up to two years, nominal interest rate is 4.9% on annual basis. The credits to small and mid-sized enterprises are approved through HVB bank, Komercijalna banka and Banca Intesa. All interested companies can get free help in the design of business plan in the Department of Technical Assistance IMG.