Credit line of Government of Italy, intended for small and mid-sized enterprises in Serbia, represented

At the Banking Fair "Bank Expo 07" in Belgrade, the project manager of "International management group", Mira Tumara, represented yesterday (February 27, 2007) relatively new credit line of the Government of Italy intended for the development of small and mid-sized enterprises in Serbia, mainly in the field of the procurement of equipment, modernization of technological production process, introduction of standards, etc.

Total value of the line amounts to 33.25m EUR. The plan is that the transfer and the distribution of credit means be realized in four separate installments, two of which have already been completed. The official agent and the partner of the Government of Italy in this project is the National Bank of Serbia, whereas all interested entrepreneurs, under condition that they meet the stipulated requests, can obtain financial means from this credit through three banks in the country - Komercijalna, HVB and Banca Intesa.

(Mira Tumara)

- So far we have received 95 requests and we have approved 48 credits worth about 17.7m EUR. This money has been used for implementation of 37 projects whose value amounts to somewhat more than 15m EUR. All that only confirms the interest of Serbian businessmen in this credit line, although there are still some regions in Serbia from which none of the companies applied for the credit – Tumara explained.

According to her words, the minimal amount of the credit is 50,000 EUR and the maximal amount is 1m EUR. Nominal interest rate on approved funds amounts to 4.9% on annual basis, the credits are approved with "grace" period of two years, the deadline for repayment is up to eight years and the installments are semiannual. One of the requests that follow the aforementioned credit line is that 70% of these funds will be realized through the procurement of equipment from the Italian manufacturers.

I. A.