Business financing

The Recovery and Resilience Facility – Greece 2.0 supports the financing of private investments, primarily through low-interest loans, promoting growth, innovation, and the transition to sustainable entrepreneurship across all sectors of the Greek economy.

A total of €16.4 billion will be channeled into the private economy through three key programmes, as outlined below:

Detailed Sections:

Key loan features
Financing structure
Eligible Beneficiaries
Eligible investments
Excluded activities
Investment eligibility verification process
Loan interest rate & State Aid compliance
Eligible expenditures
Determination of RRF loan amount
Eligibility Criteria per Pillar
Information – Applying for financing of investments plans
Related files (in Greek)

Key loan features

Approval deadline: Investment plans must be approved by June 30, 2026.

State Aid compliance: Loans granted under favorable terms comply with:

General Block Exemption Regulation (EU) 651/2014 (GBER)
De Minimis Aid Regulation (EU) 2023/2831
Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation (EU) 2022/2472

Within this framework, an interest rate of 1% applies to large and medium-sized enterprises, and 0.35% for small enterprises.

Alternative financing option: Businesses can opt to receive RRF loans under commercial terms, without the application of the state aid framework.

Evaluation process and loan agreement: Investment plans are assessed by financial institutions and Certified Independent Auditors. The company signs the loan agreement directly with the financial institution.

Financing structure

50% maximum funding through an RRF loan
30% minimum co-financing loan by contracted commercial banks
20% minimum investor’s own funds

(Ministerial Decision 159337/2021, Art. 1, Par. 2)

Eligible Beneficiaries

Any natural or legal person planning to implement an eligible investment may apply for an RRF loan, provided they are not excluded based on their legal or actual headquarters.

For legal entities, the implementing body must meet at least one of the following:

be a private company or
be any company where the state holds less than or equal to 50% of total share capital or
be any company that -irrespectively of state participation in its share capital- owns and/or manages power networks that are natural monopolies.

Each potential Beneficiary may submit more than one project proposals or participate in more than one potential eligible candidates.

(Ministerial Decision 159337/2021, Art. 6, Par. 1)

Eligible investments

Investment plans are eligible for financing, if they:

Have a Positive Net Present Value (NPV)
Are based on sound financial criteria
Fall under at least one of the five pillars of the programme, based on specific eligibility criteria
Comply with state aid rules
Do not belong to excluded activities (Ministerial Decision 159335/2021, Art.1)
Comply with the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) Technical Guidance (2021/C58/01)

(Ministerial Decision 159337/2021, Art. 6, Par. 3 & 9)

Excluded activities

The following are excluded from RRF loan financing:

Activities prohibited by national law.
Activities that restrict individual rights and freedoms or violate human rights.
Defense activities involving prohibited products or technologies under international law.
Tobacco-related activities (production, distribution, processing, trading).
Activities excluded under the Horizon Europe regulation.
Gambling-related activities (production, manufacture, distribution, processing, trading, or software).
Sex trade and related infrastructures, services, and facilities.
Activities involving live animals for experimental or scientific purposes without guaranteed compliance with the relevant European Convention.
Real estate development activities, except those aligned with the RRF loan programme’s five pillars.
Financial activities related to asset disposal and financial or insurance activities by banking institutions or their affiliates.
Decommissioning, operation, modification, or construction of nuclear power plants.
Activities and assets related to fossil fuels, except gas-based electricity/heat production projects, as well as related transmission and distribution infrastructure, that meet DNSH guidance conditions (2021/C 58/01, Annex III).
Activities and assets under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to achieve projected greenhouse gas emissions that are not lower than the relevant benchmarks set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/447. In the case where the supported activity achieves projected greenhouse gas emissions that are not significantly lower than the relevant benchmarks, an explanation of the reasons why this is not possible should be provided. Benchmarks are those set for free allocation in respect of activities falling within the scope of the Emissions Trading Scheme, as set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/447.
Activities and assets related to landfills, incinerators and mechanical biological treatment plants. This exemption does not apply to investments in plants exclusively engaged in the treatment of non-recyclable hazardous waste, and to existing plants, where such investments aim at increasing energy efficiency, capturing exhaust gases for storage or use or recovering materials from ash incineration, provided that such actions do not lead to an increase in the waste treatment capacity of the plants or to an extension of the lifetime of the plants. Evidence at plant level shall be provided for this purpose.
Activities and assets where the long-term disposal of waste may harm the environment. This exemption does not apply to investments in existing mechanical biological treatment plants, where such investments aim at increasing energy efficiency or retrofitting for recycling operations of separated waste into bio-waste, composting and anaerobic digestion of bio-waste, provided that such actions do not lead to an increase in the waste treatment capacity of the plants or to an extension of the lifetime of the plants. Evidence at plant level shall be provided for this purpose.

(Ministerial Decision 159335/2021, Art. 1)

Investment eligibility verification process

The process of verifying the eligibility of investment plans, includes:

Assessment of the project’s loan viability, according to banking terms, by the credit institution.
Preliminary eligibility check by the credit institution to exclude clearly ineligible projects.
Review by a Certified Independent Evaluator (CIE) including:
- Eligibility confirmation
- Alignment with RRF investment objectives and loan quota calculation on the investment plan budget
- Interest rate compliance with state aid rules
- Assessment of the project’s contribution to green and digital targets (Green and Digital Tagged investment budget)
- Compliance with the DNSH principle
- Proper categorization of expenses in eligible action pillars
- Recording of extroversion expenses based on past financial statements
- Accounting classification of investment expenses for potential post-audit
- Prevention of double funding (ensuring no overlap with other EU programmes)

(Ministerial Decision 159337/2021, Art. 8 & 9)

Loan interest rate & State Aid compliance

The minimum interest rates for RRF loans are:

0.35% for small and very small enterprises
1% for all other enterprises

If the requested interest rate is equal to or higher than the reference rate (as defined by Commission Communication 2008/C 14/02), the RRF loan is not considered state aid.

If the requested interest rate is lower than the reference rate, the loan constitutes state aid.

(Ministerial Decisions 153666/2022, Art, 1 & 159337/ 2021, Art. 8, Par. 6)

Eligible expenditures

Eligible expenditures must occur within Greece and may include:

Land purchase and use (depreciation/leasing), land development (up to 30% of eligible expenditures of the investment plan)
Purchase/construction and use of buildings (depreciation/leasing)
Purchase/construction and use of equipment (depreciation/leasing)
Purchase and use of vehicles (depreciation/leasing)
Purchase/construction and use of intangible assets (amortisation/subscriptions)
Payroll linked to the investment plan
Travel expenses
Third-party services
Consumables
Operating costs (communication, energy, maintenance, lease payments, administrative expenses, insurance)
Cost of capitals
Working capital (operating expenses, costs linked to the company’s transaction cycle VAT, etc.)
Marketing and communication expenses

Working capital plus marketing expenses cannot exceed 30% of total eligible project expenditures.

Banks may offer additional loans beyond the co-financing loan percentage to cover non-eligible expenses.

(Ministerial Decision 159335/2021, Art. 2)

Determination of RRF loan amount

The final percentage of the investment plan that will be financed with an RRF loan is determined based on the percentage of eligible investment expenses in the five pillars of the RRF loan programme as well as the coverage of specific criteria per pillar.

Example for Green transition investment plans:

Existence of a green transition investment budget, which contributes to the green tagging objectives of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, at least 20% of the total budget of the investment plan

Minimum green budget: 20% → RRF Loan: 30% of total project budget
Minimum green budget: 40% → RRF Loan: 40% of total project budget
Minimum green budget: 50% → RRF Loan: 50% of total project budget

If a project qualifies under more than one pillar, the loan quotas are cumulative but cannot exceed 50% in total.

If a project does not meet the minimum thresholds in any pillar, it is eligible for a 30% standalone RRF loan quota provided that the sum of the minimum percentages of the pillars amounts to at least 30%.

(Ministerial Decision 159335/2021, Art. 3)

Eligibility Criteria per Pillar

RRF Loan Programme Pillars	Investment Categories	Eligibility Criteria
Green Transition	Green Technologies, Green Skills, Biodiversity, Energy Efficiency, Building Renovation, Circular Economy, Sustainable Development, Job Creation, Energy Security	Green transition investments that contribute to the green tagging of Greece2.0, correspond to at least 20% of total budget of the eligible investment
Digital Transformation	Digitization of services, Digital infrastructure, data infrastructure, Collaborative clusters, Digital innovation hubs and open digital solutions, Digitization of SMEs	Digital transformation investments that contribute to the digital tagging of NRRP correspond to at least 10% of total budget of the eligible investment
Innovation, Research, and Development	Innovation investments, R&D investments	At least one Innovation, R&D eligibility indicator and minimum Innovation R&D investment budget 10% of total budget of the eligible investment
Economies of Scale through Collaborations, Mergers, Acquisitions	Existing/new partnership, establishment of new entity through mergers/acquisitions	Minimum 5-year commitment to partnership – The average total turnover of the legal entities participating in the partnership over the previous three (3) years is at least 50% higher than the turnover of the legal entity with the highest turnover over the same period – At least 20% of project expenses directly support the partnership’s objectives.
Extroversion	Export activities, Tourism investments	The average of the investor’s current export activity reaching at least 15% of its turnover – Minimum export budget of the investment plan reaching at least 15% of the projected total income – Tourist accommodation, complex tourist accommodation, and tourist residential complexes with at least 5 independent tourist residences.

(Ministerial Decision 159335/2021, Art. 4 & 5)

Information – Applying for financing of investments plans

Information is provided exclusively through Commercial Banks and International Financial Institutions participating in the RRF Loan Programme: