The European Commission has approved the notification of the Ministry of Finance regarding the extension of the IMM INVEST PLUS program and the components IMM INVEST ROMANIA, AGRO IMM INVEST, IMM PROD, GARANT CONSTRUCT, INNOVATION and RURAL INVEST, with the increase of the ceilings for state aid granted in the form of guarantees for loans and grants.
The program application is open, eligible beneficiaries of the IMM INVEST PLUS program can register by accessing the portal www.imminvest.ro.
By extending the guarantee issuance period until 31.12.2023, the Romanian Government will increase the total ceiling of the IMM INVEST PLUS program to 20,250,000,000 lei, the equivalent in lei of 4,110,340,000 euros, and the maximum number of beneficiaries will amount to 26,708 beneficiaries.
The thresholds of state aid, consisting of the value of the risk fee, the management fee, related to the guarantee granted for the entire validity period of the loan and the interest related to the loans/credit lines for a period of 12 months from the granting of the loan, were increased up to 2,000,000 euros per enterprise/ATU, up to 250,000 euros/enterprise in the case of beneficiaries in the field of primary agriculture and up to 300,000 euros/enterprise in the case of beneficiaries in the fields of fishing and aquaculture.
Other important changes to the program, in the 2023 edition, refer to:
- start-up companies can apply to all components of the program: IMM INVEST ROMANIA, AGRO IMM INVEST, RURAL INVEST and GARANT CONSTRUCT;
- completing the beneficiary categories for the AGRO IMM INVEST and RURAL INVEST components with producer groups recognized in accordance with the provisions of Government Ordinance No. 37/2005 on the recognition and operation of producer groups and organizations, for the marketing of agricultural and forestry products;
- eliminating the condition that the main and/or secondary headquarters of the beneficiary applying for the IMM PROD component be located in the urban area.
The maximum value of a financings can reach 10 million lei for investment projects and up to 5 million for working capital, and the state guarantee can cover up to 90% of the loan value. The maximum loan duration will be 72 months for investment loans and 36 months for working capital loans/credit lines.
Brief presentation of the IMM INVEST PLUS program
The IMM INVEST ROMANIA component facilitates access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises and small mid-cap companies, including start-ups, by accessing one or more loans for investments or working capital loans/lines of credit, including for refinancing other investment loans or expenses for the acquisition of shares and stocks.
The AGRO IMM INVEST component is dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises and small mid-cap companies, including start-ups, in the agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food sectors.
The SME PROD component aims to provide government guarantees requested to ensure liquidity and finance investments by SMEs, including start-ups, operating in productive sectors.
The GARANT CONSTRUCT component aims to provide government guarantees to improve energy efficiency, support investments in green energy and align with environmental objectives implemented by:
- SMEs and small mid-cap companies in the construction sector, including start-ups, as well as architects and individual architectural offices
- Territorial Administrative Units (municipalities, cities, communes).
IMM INVEST ROMANIA is the main government program launched since the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, on April 24, 2020, dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises to ensure their access to bank loans with state guarantees and subsidized financing costs.
The balance sheet of the three years of implementation of IMM INVEST records about 65,000 guarantees granted, worth over 41 billion lei, which supported loans of over 48 billion. As a result of this capital injection into the economy, over a million jobs were saved.
The value of guarantees granted in 2020 represents 28.4% of the value of all guarantees granted by FNGCIMM in 18 years of activity carried out between 2002 and 2019.
In 2020, the number of guarantees granted doubled compared to the previous year, and the increase in value was 349%, SME INVEST program having a major contribution to this growth.
