THE "STRATEGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMES" CONFERENCE / CORINA VULPEŞ, EXIMBANK: "SMEs can get loans of up to 1.5 million Euros for investments from EximBank"

Romanian small and medium enterprises can get development loans of up to 1.5 million Euros (the equivalent in lei) from EximBank for investment projects, for a period of up to 10 years, said Corina Vulpeş, the head of the Department of Domestic and International Financial Relations of the bank.

She then said that SMEs can also get working capital loans of up to 300,000 lei, for financing their day to day operations, over a period of up to 1 year. Corina Vulpeş says that starting with the month of October, Eximbank offers an insurance facility for Romanian exporters, as a result of the occurrence of commercial and political risks on the market of the European Union.

The Eximbank representative says that exporters can apply for loan insurance under the aid scheme, regardless of their line of business, with the exception of export operations conducted through EximBank that involve goods included on the List of Export Goods that may not benefit from instruments for supporting foreign trade.

She said: "This insurance applies to SMEs that have an annual turnover of less than two million Euros, as well as exporters (SMEs and major companies) that deliver to just one debtor, if the duration of the risk exposure is greater than 181 days, but no greater than two years".

Corina Vulpeş added that SMEs may also get loans for priority areas: "These things cover the financing needs of regional infrastructure development projects, of supporting research-development and environmental protection activities, or of the employment and training of personnel". Mrs. Vulpeş emphasizes the fact that the amount of the financing, in this case, may not exceed the equivalent of 1.5 million Euros in lei, over a period of up to ten years.