Moldova will simplify the procedure for accessing guarantees for loans requested by small and medium-sized enterprises in banks.
This was announced during a briefing on Friday by the head of the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance Dumitru Alaiba and Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu. Unlike individual guarantees currently provided by the Organization for the Development of the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector (ODIMM), loans will be guaranteed to SMEs by banks in accordance with predetermined criteria. Individual guarantee negotiation between the bank and ODIMM will be excluded. The implementation of such a guarantee mechanism has a number of advantages over individual guarantees, including shorter guarantee processing times, simplification of the process for requesting guaranteed loans, and less resources on the part of the guarantor and lender to administer the guarantee process. The new mechanism will also have a direct impact on the economy - facilitating access to financial resources for the business environment will stimulate economic activity, investment growth, and the creation of new jobs. In addition, to support entrepreneurs during the pandemic, the Ministry of Economy and ODIMM plan to cancel the guarantee fee (0.5%) for all guarantee products offered by ODIMM for 2022, as well as increase the guaranteed credit rate to 80% for all guarantee products ODIMM. According to the Ministry of Economy, the number of new guarantees issued in 2021 was 5 times higher than the number of guarantees issued in 2020. Currently, the size of the loan guarantee fund is about 600 million lei. As a reminder, the Loan Guarantee Fund is a business support tool created and managed by ODIMM. Its task is to issue financial guarantees for loans requested by SMEs from partner financial institutions (10 commercial banks). Active guarantee products cover up to 80% of the requested loan amount, and the cost of guarantees varies from 500 thousand lei for start-up companies to 7 million lei for exporting companies. One leu provided as a financial guarantee facilitates access to 2.6 lei in credit and creates savings investments of 3.3 lei.// 04.02.2022 — InfoMarket
