The Ministry of Economy initiated amendments to the legislation regulating the creation of a new Fund to enhance economic development.
The Ministry of Economy announced the creation of the new Fund under the Entrepreneurship Development Organization in the middle of September this year, and now the agency has started preparing the regulatory and legislative framework. In particular, the Fund's activity will be regulated by the Law on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It is provided that the Fund for enhancing economic development will operate simultaneously with the Fund for guaranteeing loans for SMEs, its goal is to provide access to finance for SMEs through partner financial institutions. The partners will be banks and non-bank credit institutions, except for companies whose main activity is financial leasing. SMEs will receive support through the following instruments: lending, full or partial compensation of loans (interest, commissions, fees, insurance and other loan-related payments borne by the beneficiary), etc. Amount of funding, eligibility criteria of partners and eligibility of beneficiaries, as well as the order of organization and operation of the Fund and use of its financial means, the government will approve a separate decree within 3 months after the entry into force of the bill. The Fund itself will be formed from different sources - from budget funds; resources allocated by partners and/or donors (credits/loans, financial and technical support, grants); income obtained from loans and refinancing; usufruct; income obtained from financial investments and other legal sources. According to preliminary estimates, Moldovan SMEs will get 70 million lei from the new Fund in 2022, 450 million lei in 2023, and 1.3 billion lei in 2025 - 1.3 billion lei. A total of 2.8 thousand loans will be granted to businesses under the Fund in 2022-2025. The average credit given out within the frames of FAD, in 2022, will constitute 700 thousand lei, and by 2025 its size will grow up to 1.1 million lei. The creation of the Fund will have a positive impact on the competitiveness of small businesses in Moldova. At the same time, by 2025, there will be created 18.9 thousand new jobs and tax payments of SMEs to the budget will grow by 13 billion lei. Consultations on the project are open until October 14: https://bit.ly/3rr97Nd. // 04.10.2022 - InfoMarket.
