Three new guarantee instruments facilitating access to finance for Greek SMEs will be established by the signature of a new contractual framework between Greece and the European Investment Bank Group, under which the EIF will  manage EUR 400 million of the Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0 to help small to medium businesses in the country.

The mandate was announced at a signing ceremony at the European Commission’s office in Athens on November 24, 2022 attended by European Commission Vice President MargaritIs Schinas, Alternate Finance Minister Theodoros Skylakakis, EIB Vice-President for Greece Christian Kettel Thomsen, Hubert Cottogni, Head of the Mandate Management Department and Director for the European Investment Fund (EIF), and Nikos Mantzoufas, Governor of the Recovery & Resilience Fund Agency.

Under the new mandate, the EIF will implement three guarantee instruments:

• the Sustainability Portfolio Guarantee, which will support financing of investments in climate action, energy efficiency and renewable energy;
• the SME Competitiveness Portfolio Guarantee which will support the competitiveness and growth of local enterprises;
• and the Innovation and Digitalisation Portfolio Guarantee, which will enhance access to finance of Research & Innovation-intensive Greek enterprises, and support the uptake of digital technologies and digital transformation.

Τhis entire guarantee mechanism is expected to lead to the disbursement of a total of more than €1.5bn loans to small mid-caps and individuals financing the above mentioned types of investments.

For more information press here.