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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbian exporters can apply for favourable loans

Belgrade, 16 November 2005

Director of the Agency for Export Insurance and Financing Milenko Bogosavljevic said today that this agency has begun receiving applications from Serbian exporters interested in soft short-term loans worth between €30,000 and €450,000.

Goran Andjelic, left, and Milenko Bogosavljevic

Bogosavljevic told a press conference that the annual interest on these loans, whose repayment period is between three and six months, ranges from three to five percent.

He said that in order to be eligible for the loan programme, applicants must have last year had exports of at least €1 million, or have concluded an export deal of such value for this year.

Conditions of the loan state that in the planned export deal, the participation of goods of domestic origin must be at least 51 percent, as well as that the company has a positive balance of business operations.

The agency will secure export claims, in the first phase from commercial risks, meaning the risk of the buyer's insolvency, Bogosavljevic said and added that in this way, by providing more favourable payment conditions, the competitiveness of Serbian products will be increased.

He said that the agency's credit potential currently stands at €9 million, while €1 million has been set aside for insurance activities, which is a sufficient sum for providing guarantees for export activities up to €20 million.

Serbian Assistant Minister of Finance Goran Andjelic stated that this year 716 micro loans for self-employment were approved at a total value of €12.5 million. He said that thanks to these loans, 3,500 people have been employed and that the same amount is envisaged for next year.

According to Andjelic, in order to boost development of Kragujevac, Bor and Vranje, 41 favourable loans have been approved to companies in these cities. Their total value is 500 million dinars and they will be released soon.

Andjelic recalled that two firms from Kragujevac, and one from Bor and Vranje each have already received funds from the loan, and announced that the programme of approving loans for self-employment will be continued and it will probably include some other municipalities. He said that all the applicants who employed more than four workers were approved for the loans.