EIB's loan for Piraeus Bank - 20m EUR for loans for SME

(Anabel Asema, Dimitris Frangetis, Dominik Kurben and Dušan Milinković)

The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed the contract today (January 27th, 2010) with Piraeus Bank Belgrade on the credit line of 20m EUR for the loans for small and mid-sized enterprises and the projects of local self-governments in Serbia.

Dušan Milinković, a member of the Executive Board of Piraeus Bank, said at the press conference that that bank would provide additional 20m EUR for the loans and approve them under the same terms as the EIB's funds.

- Interest rate on the investment loans will range between 5 and 6.5% on annual basis, depending on the type of the loan - said Milinković and added that the interest rates would be, at least, 0.5% lower than the ones approved by the bank without EIB's assistance.

The amount of the loans will range between 100,000 and 12.5m EUR. Maximum repayment period is 12 years, with the grace period of up to four years, while the repayment period for the loans for infrastructural projects of local self-governments is 15 years, with the grace period of up to five years.

- The credit funds are intended for financing investments in permanent capital funds - it is stated in the announcement.

In addition to small and mid-sized enterprises with less than 250 employees, the loan users will also be local self-governments and other users who implement the projects from the fields of economy, energy, environment protection, industry, health care and education, tourism, as well as provision of services.

The President of the Executive Board of Piraeus Bank in Serbia, Dimitris Frangetis, said that the new credit line represented another proof that that bank planned to keep supporting Serbian economy sector and continue expansion in Serbian market.