Micro firms together with Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) account for about 99.7% of the companies in Romania, and are the main provider of employment (66%). However, they generate only about 42% of value-added of non-financial companies in the economy and face a number of additional problems: Too many are very small enterprises and mostly active in intermediation such as retail, wholesale or any kind of brokerage; they are often unprofitable and one out of three start-ups fails after one year of operation. With 22 SMEs per 1’000 people, the density of SMEs in Romania is considerably below the EU average (42/1’000), thus revealing a latent, but untapped entrepreneurial potential. Moreover, foreign banks have drastically reduced their supply of finance to local subsidiaries in order to reduce their balance sheets, debt and credit risk. The relevant Romanian authorities are committed to ensure a favorable business environment for SMEs and to address the persistent credit crunch by way of implementing a number of SME support programmes, which facilitate their access to finance. These programmes under the auspices of the Romanian Ministry of Economy have so far benefited an estimated 11’000 SMEs (out of a total of 700’000). But there still exists a considerable gap on the market in terms of the availability of investment loans for SMEs in sectors with a high growth potential.

• Provision of loans up to the equivalent of CHF 300,000 to SMEs through the CEC Bank S.A. as Partner Bank (30% from the Bank’s own resources) and from the Swiss Contribution (70%);
• Provision of loan guarantees, if a SME cannot provide enough collateral; the Romanian credit guarantee agency can fund up to 80% of the loan amount;
• Establishing a pilot revolving fund for investment loans. The reflows from the 70% individual loan principals which were provided out of the Swiss Contribution can be re-granted to SME applicants during the lifetime of the program and beyond..

Erreichte Resultate:   The Romanian Swiss Program for SMEs responded to the existing long-term credit gap on the Romanian financial market by providing secured investment loans to 500 SMEs. Thereby, the Program improved the access to long-term finance of promising Romanian SMEs and made them bankable. Thanks to the secured investment loans around 3,000 jobs could be created or maintained.

Phase 10 16.01.2014 - 30.06.2019   (Completed)