The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed three deals with Greek intermediary banks and funds to provide 150 million euros of additional investment to very small, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Greece, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.

The first agreement, with the Cooperative Bank of Karditsa, is backed by the EU's Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme and will cover a loan portfolio of five million euros for 300 micro-borrowers. It will target mainly farmers, young unemployed borrowers, cooperatives and social enterprises, as well as micro businesses active in the green economy.

The second deal, backed by the EU's COSME programme, is a 20-million-euro agreement with the Greek investment fund Diorama Investments - whose capital is management by Deca Investments - that is expected to trigger investments of more than 125 million euros for SMEs.

The third agreement is with InnovFin deal with the ProCredit group, which is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and will provide 20 million euros to innovative SMEs.

In a press conference in Athens concerning the agreements with Diorama and Cooperative Bank of Karditsa, European Commissioner for employment Marianne Thyssen joined Deputy Economy and Development Minister for NSRF Alexis Charitsis, EIF Chief Executive Pier Luigi Gilibert and executives of Diorama and Cooperative Bank of Karditsa to present the programmes, which are part-funded by the European Commission.Thyssen noted that freeing investments in the Greek economy was vital for creating jobs and noted that the European Commission remains fully committed to creating growth without exclusions in Europe.Charitsis also highlighted the timing of the agreements, which were announced on the day after the Eurogroup's decisions on Greece and the review of the Greek programme, including the start of a discussion on making Greece's debt sustainable. He said the agreements coincided to a great degree with the Greek government's intiatives for addressing problems such as the deleveraging and shrinking of bank balance sheets.

In a statement in Brussels, European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, responsible for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, said: “Small companies in Greece are in great need of financing to grow their businesses and create jobs. The agreements signed by the EIF with ProCredit, Diorama Investments and Cooperative Bank of Karditsa this week will help Greek SMEs access new finance. I encourage other banks to join forces with the EIF and set up similar agreements under the Investment Plan so that we can help more Greek companies flourish.”

Source: Tornosnews.gr

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