The regulatory act regulating the IMM Invest Plus Program was developed by the Ministry of Finance.
IMM Invest Plus will facilitate access to financing for companies facing a liquidity deficit necessary to carry out investment projects and continue their activities.
The financing will be accessible until December 31, 2022, and interest payments will be made within a maximum of 13 months from the date of granting the loan.
The program will be implemented in the form of a state aid scheme under which guarantees and grants will be granted, which will cover part of the financing costs of the contracted loans.
The program, which includes IMM INVEST, AGRO IMM INVEST, IMM PROD, GARANT CONSTRUCT, INNOVATION, RURAL INVEST, is based on the Temporary Crisis Framework for State aid measures to support the economy following the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (2022/C131/01). Financing contracts will be awarded after the authorization decision of the European Commission.
The IMM INVEST PLUS program will be accessible until December 31, 2022, and interest payments will be made within a maximum of 13 months from the date of granting the loan.
"We have extended until the end of the year the programs through which the business environment benefits from a total guarantee ceiling of 7,500,000,000 lei and a grant budget of a maximum of 900.68 million lei, the equivalent in lei of approximately 182.15 million euros, so that the 10,704 beneficiaries have access to financing to be able to continue their activity. We respect our commitment to stand by entrepreneurs in Romania and to reward them for their determination to develop their businesses, even in difficult times", said Mr. Adrian Câciu, Minister of Finance.
Component – AGRO IMM INVEST is dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises and small mid-cap companies in the agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food sectors.
Component – SME PROD must ensure liquidity and financing for investments made by small and medium-sized enterprises, including start-ups in urban areas. The local production of consumer goods, the increase in production capacity, the conversion from intermediation to production, digitalization, alignment with environmental standards, including by improving energy efficiency in the production process, are encouraged.
GARANT CONSTRUCT component is intended for projects to improve energy efficiency, investments in green energy and alignment with environmental objectives implemented by SMEs in the construction sector and by administrative-territorial units.
INNOVATION component aims to support companies that have an innovation component, those that carry out inventions and innovations, to stimulate Romanian exports, international transactions and investments abroad, to stimulate online trade and digitalization, etc.
RURAL INVEST component supports small and medium-sized enterprises, small mid-cap companies and large companies in the agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food sectors.
Thus, a unitary guarantee mechanism is designed under which, on behalf of and for the account of the state, the Ministry of Finance, through the National Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises SA-IFN, the Romanian Counterguarantee Fund SA, and the Rural Credit Guarantee Fund SA-IFN, grants state aid in the form of guarantees. The state aid covers a maximum of 90% of bank loans granted for investments and/or to support current activity, as well as a grant composed of a non-refundable component of a maximum of 10% of the value of the guaranteed financing, management and risk fees and partially the cost of interest..
The validity period of the guarantee granted and of the interests related to the loans/credit lines is a maximum of 12 months, but cannot exceed 400,000 euros per enterprise, the equivalent in lei, respectively 35,000 euros/enterprise, the equivalent in lei, in the case of beneficiaries in the field of primary agriculture, fishing and aquaculture.In the case of ATUs, the value of the grant awarded cannot exceed 400,000 euros, equivalent in lei.
For loans and credit lines, the maximum value of each financing per beneficiary is a maximum of 5,000,000 lei for working capital financing, respectively 10,000,000 lei for investments., except for beneficiaries in the field of primary agriculture, aquaculture and pisciculture for one or more financed activities, for which the maximum amount of financing is 5,000,000 lei. The maximum cumulative value of state-guaranteed financing that can be granted to a beneficiary under the program cannot exceed 10,000,000 lei, respectively 5,000,000 lei for beneficiaries in the field of primary agriculture, aquaculture and pisciculture.
The maximum duration of financing is 72 months, in the case of investment loans, without the possibility of extension. In the case of loans or lines of credit for working capital, the maximum duration of financing is 36 months, without the possibility of extension.
