Recovery and Resilience Facility Loans
1. Loan funds
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) Greece 2.0 includes a particularly important measure to strengthen the country’s competitiveness, that is the provision of loans to finance private investments. For this purpose, through the relevant loan agreement between the Greek State and the European Commission, Greece will draw from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, loans amounting to €17.7 billion., of which €16.7 billion will be channeled through commercial banks, to finance investments, by:
- loans granted by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (50% maximum)
- investors’ own funds (20% minimum) and
- loans granted by the contracted commercial banks (30% minimum).
2. General characteristics of the loans
Some general features of the RRF loans are summarized below. Detailed information is provided exclusively by the participating Banks, which have issued the relevant calls for investment proposals.
2.1 Eligible Investments
- Eligible investments are required to have a positive net present value and be able to repay over time the RRF loans and co-financing loans that will be granted to them.
- Eligible investments must fulfil the criteria of at least one of the 5 Pillars of the Recovery and Resilience Facility loan programme (a) Green Transition, (b) Digital Transformation, (c) Innovation, research & development, (d) Business scale up through partnerships, acquisitions and mergers and (e) Extroversion.
| Pillar of RRF Loan Programme |
Investment plan eligibility criteria
|
| Green transition | Green transition investments that contribute to the green tagging of NRRP correspond to at least 20% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
|
Digital transformation
|
Digital transformation investments that contribute to the digital tagging of NRRP correspond to at least 10% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
|
Innovation, research & development
|
Eligibility coverage of at least one Innovation – research & development Index (as specified in article 4 of the Ministerial Decision on Eligibility Criteria) and at the same time minimum budget of innovation – research & development investments of at least 10% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
| Business scale up | Existing or new partnership, or establishment of a new entity as a result of a merger / acquisition. Partnership is an activity governed by long-term (with contractual or actual term longer than 5 years) binding partnership agreements between non-affiliated companies with a view to promoting jointly their business activities, or through the establishment of legal entities with the same objectives (joint ventures, cooperatives, organizations and groups of producers irrespective of their legal form, inter alia). |
|
Extroversion
|
The eligibility of the investment plans is alternatively determined through: a. The average of the investor’s current export activity reaching at least 15% of its turnover. The investor’s financial data of the last three financial years are reviewed, or alternatively the percentage of the turnover corresponding to transactions though foreign credit cards or remittances. b. Minimum export budget of the investment plan reaching at least 15% of the projected total income arising from the investment plan (viability study). On a separate basis, investment plans that include tourist accommodation, complex tourist accommodation, and tourist residential complexes with at least 5 independent tourist residences are de facto eligible. |
- Eligible Investments are required to comply with the Do no Significant Harm Technical Guidance (2021/C58/01).
2.2 Eligible Beneficiaries
- Proposals for financing investment plans can be submitted by individuals or legal entities, as long as they are not excluded due to their statutory or headquarters and do not belong to the excluded activities according to the Ministerial Decision 159335 2021 “Criteria for evaluating the eligibility of investment plans financed by Recovery and Resilience Facility Loans”.
- In the case of a legal entity, the Beneficiary must also fall under at least one of the following cases:
(a) be a private company, or
(b) be any company with state participation in its share capital equal or less than (50%) of its total share capital, or
- c) be any company irrespectively of the percentage of the state participation in its share capital that owns and/or manages power networks and operates as a natural monopoly.
Each candidate may submit more than one project proposal or participate in more than one potential eligible candidates.
3. Information – Submission of requests for financing
Information on the financing of investment plans is provided exclusively through the Commercial Banks and International Financial Organizations participating in the Loan Programme of RRF specifically through the following links:
Alpha Bank https://www.alpha.gr/en/business/recovery-and-resilience-facility-rrf-loans
National Bank of Greece https://www.nbg.gr/en/corporate/funding/financing/financing-development-programs/nbg-2-0
Piraeus Bank https://www.piraeusbank.gr/en/megales-epiheiriseis/development-banking/tameio-anakampsis
Pancreta Bank https://pancretabank-taa.gr/
Optima Bank https://www.optimabank.gr/business/tameio-anakampsis-kai-anthektikotitas
European Investment Bank https://www.eib.org/
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development https://www.ebrd.com/
