Thanks to support from Guarantee Fund, entrepreneurs in Serbia obtained credits worth about 64m EUR

The Guarantee Fund of Republic of Serbia has, so far, signed total of 4,949 contracts with small and mid-sized enterprises in the country and, for the needs of their easier and simpler applying for credits approved by commercial banks, it provided guarantees worth 15.51m EUR.

According to the words of Mitana Borojević, who represented the work of this fund yesterday (February 26, 2007) at "Bank Expo 07" Fair, the main aim of that institution to make the access to credit sources easier to the domestic companies, as well as the entire development of their operations.

The priorities are, most certainly, small and mid-sized enterprises, "start up" projects, export-oriented companies, projects that enable employement of the young, collective farms, etc.

- The largest value of the guarantee we approve to the businessmen per project is 630,000 EUR. The amount of the guarantee usually ranges between 50 and 80% of the credit the businessman requests from a commercial bank, which significantly reduces the risk of that investment for banks and they are much more willing to oblige enterpreneurs in such conditions. Total financial potential of the Fund amounts to 33.2m EUR, which means that, if we approve guarantees with the level of 50%, we can ensure approval of credits in amount of 66m EUR – Borojević explained.

The Guarantee Fund of Serbia has, so far, signed contracts with 32 commercial banks that operate on this territory and, thanks to its guarantees, it made it possible for the businessmen in Serbia to obtain credits in total amount of 64.09m EUR.

I. A.