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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement on Italian financial help to Serbian SMEs signed

Belgrade, 23 July 2009

Serbian Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic and Italian Ambassador to Serbia Armando Varicchio today signed an agreement on a €30 million loan to help Serbian SMEs.

Armando Varicchio, left, and Diana Dragutinovic

At a press conference, held at the government building, Dragutinovic said that the loan will be provided under favourable conditions, with an 8 year repayment period, a grace period of 5 years and a 0.35% interest rate, recalling that Italy has allocated more than €200 million to Serbia since 2000.

She noted that the loan will help encourage the development of the private sector and public utility companies, for which Italy already provided €33.35 million in 2004.

She pointed out that 200 Italian enterprises employing around 200,000 workers are currently doing business in Serbia.

Varicchio said that the loan will help develop existing enterprises and establish new ones.

Also present was Governor of the National Bank of Serbia Radovan Jelasic, who specified that SMEs and public utility companies can apply for loans of €50,000 and €100,000 to Unikredit, Inteza, Komercijalna and Privredna Banks, adding that the interest rate will be 4.25%.

Minister Dragutionovic also recalled that next week the Serbian parliament is expected to approve the European Investment Bank’s credit for Serbian SMEs, to the amount of €250 million.