The Government will finance up to 10 million export and investment projects for SMEs and larger companies

MADRID, 1 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Council of Ministers has approved the modification of the SME Financing Line for export and investment projects charged to the Fund for the Internationalization of the Company (FIEM) to support export and investment projects offering financing of up to 10 million euros in operations with beneficiaries that are both SMEs and larger companies.

With the modification of this line of financing, it is intended to facilitate access to financing for export and investment operations of Spanish SMEs, while at the same time providing it with greater flexibility in the conditions and agility in the processing.

The changes in the SME Financing Line are justified in order to meet the financing demands of SMEs for their export and investment operations, in a context of credit restrictions, especially for this type of company.

Currently, 19% of the FIEM proposals registered on the electronic platform have an amount of less than 10 million euros, which reveals the existence of an effective potential demand.

The new line will make it possible to reinforce support for companies, given that the FIEM, in these credit segments, is the only possible alternative for direct financing in small-value operations in the absence of interest from the banking sector for buyer credit.

The agreement also includes the expansion of eligible countries, including the possibility of carrying out operations in Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC), as long as it is with non-sovereign and private debtors.

As a result of these changes, the name of the line is updated and is renamed the Financing Line for SMEs and small export and investment projects, charged to the Fund for the Internationalization of the Company (FIEM).

On the other hand, this Monday's meeting of the Council of Ministers has also authorized the granting of a reimbursable loan amounting to almost 139 million euros in OECD commercial conditions, charged to the Fund for the Internationalization of Companies (FIEM) , to Senegal.

The agreement involves financing a project to digitize tourism and airport operations by the Société Anonyme Aéroport International Blaise Diagne of the Ministère de l'Economie, du Plan et la Coopération.

The amount of the credit granted is 124.7 million euros, to which must be added the financed premium (up to 14 million), which represents a total of up to 138.7 million euros.