Prishtina, May , 2019 – On the third anniversary of its establishment, the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank (EIB), sign the COSME Guarantee Agreement for the support small and medium enterprises (SME).
KCGF is the first applicant from Kosovo with an approved transaction under the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility. The volume of supported loans for SMEs is expected to reach up to EUR 90,000,000 over a period of two years.
EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska pointed: “The European Commission is committed to helping small companies thrive. COSME loan guarantees already provide over EUR 22 billion of financing to more than 410,000 European SMEs in 27 countries. I’m very happy that this agreement will allow more than 2000 SMEs in Kosovo to benefit from better access to EU finance to create jobs and growth.”
At this event, Mr. Alessandro Tappi, EIF’s Chief Investment Officer said: “We are pleased to be signing these guarantee agreements with the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund. By entering into this guarantee to support financing for SMEs, EIF helps development in Kosovo, fostering job creation and growth of local economy. But more importantly, this is direct help to the local start ups and small businesses and enterprises which now have new chances.”
Further, the Chairman of the KCGF Board of Directors, Mr. Gjonbalaj stressed that “it is a pleasure that in the date of celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the establishment of the KCGF, we are signing the Guarantee Agreement with the EU COSME Program. This event marks another milestone for KCGF and is the testament of the good work of the Institution. The agreement with COSME will enable the KCGF to increase the guarantee portfolio, that will further increase access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises in Kosovo, increase employment and support the economic development of our country”.
The total amount of loans approved by the banks and that have been filed under the guarantee coverage has already reached 107.5 million euros distributed over 2,794 loans, while the investments made with these loans promised over 4,035 new jobs.
