EIB provides €200m to support Serbian SMEs and mid-caps 

T

he European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union, will provide a €200m loan to the Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia for the faster recovery of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps from Covid-19.

The Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia works in cooperation with selected commercial banks and leasing companies to roll out emergency funds for SMEs across the country.

This is the sixth operation in the country implemented by the EIB under the Team Europe financial package for the Western Balkans, taking total EIB support for accelerating Serbia’s recovery from Covid-19 to €380m. The EIB funds will be available to Serbian small businesses for working capital needs and financing longer-term investments under more flexible and favourable conditions. They are designed to maximise impact and offer different disbursement options, enabling SMEs in urgent need of liquidity to access the funds faster.

Lilyana Pavlova, vice-president of EIB in charge of lending operations in Serbia, said: “Our operation today channels €200m towards the worst affected SMEs and mid-caps in Serbia.” On 29 June, the EIB announced it was providing €40m to Banca Intesa Beograd to support Serbian SMEs from Covid-19. Banca Intesa Beograd is a majority owner of Intesa Leasing Beograd, one of Serbia's top lessors.

Draginja Đurić, president of the executive board at Banca Intesa, said: “It is our great pleasure to continue our long-term cooperation with our partner, the European Investment Bank, by providing a new credit line of €40m. The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had the greatest consequences for small and medium-sized enterprises, and their recovery and further development are key to the sustainable growth of the Serbian economy."