IMM Invest programme starts off marking stage in reopening Romania's economy

The largest support programme for small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania, IMM Invest, started on Friday morning and with it the second stagein reopening Romania's economy, Finance Minister Florin Citu said on Friday. "Today, at 10:00hrs, we started the largest programme to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania, IMM Invest. With a single click and filling in a form, small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania today have access to guaranteed loans for investment and working capital guaranteed up to 90%. Thus, the government of Romania starts the third important programme in this first stage. After the short-time working, the deferral of interest rates on bank loans, we are now starting IMM Invest. This programme is important not only for its size and characteristics. This programme marks the second stage, the stage of reopening the economy,"Citu said at a news conference at the Government House. He pointed out that, compared with the other two programmes, IMM Invest has no conditionality, but addresses all small and medium-sized companies in Romania, not only those affected by the coronavirus crisis. "It is a programme that can be accessed all year long, but the implications are long term. It is a programme to start the reopening of the economy. IMM Invest, together with the programme conducted by Eximbank for large companies are the first two measures we are taking to restart the economy," said Citu. The guarantee caps under this programme is 15 billion lei and is a state aid scheme that has been approved by the European Commission. Loans are guaranteed up to 90%, depending on destination, whether they for working capital or investment. "Our reckonings show that we have a multiplication degree of at least 75 billion lei in the economy and in the first phase some 600,000 jobs will be supported directly," said the minister. He added that registration on the imminvest.ro platform is very simple "because he has checked that personally," specifying that a form is completed, and subsequently the information is sent to the bank that each client has requested. If a client has been refused by a bank, there is the possibility of trying another bank. "There are no commissions. Commissions and interest are borne by the government of Romania. Another difference from what has happened so far and why I said that it is the most important programme of the last 30 years: so far, the amount we could pay a company under such programmes approved by the European Commission was a maximum of 200,000 euros. This is the first time the European Commission has granted us this programme and we can extend this facility for an amount of 800,000 euros per company. It is a huge difference and clearly shows that it is a programme that wants to reopen the economy," said Citu. He also said that there is no deadline, and the first-come-first-served rule does not apply. The programme will run throughout the year until December 31, and if necessary the ceiling will be supplemented if needed. "By this measure we close this first stage in which the government of Romania has earmarked 3% of GDP for measures to support the economy. And we will see the results in the economy very quickly," said the minister. AGERPRES (RO - authors: Nicoleta Gherasi, George Banciulea, editor: Mariana Nica; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)