European Investment Bank (EIB) is allocating €65 million in total to support Georgian small and medium-sized businesses.

Under the EU4Business initiative, Bank of Georgia will get a loan of €50 million, while Liberty Bank will get a loan of €15 million.

By these operations, it is expected to create 7,800 new jobs in total.

Support for economic development and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is a key priority of the EU’s work with Georgia… SMEs play a significant role in Georgia’s economy and our transactions will pave the way for better business prospects for those companies and the country in general,” said EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova.

Minister of Finance Ivane Matchavariani said that he is extremely glad to observe the expansion of EIB’s portfolio in the private sector.

Private sector-growth is the only suitable growth model for Georgia…[The government] wants to make the SME sector an important growth driver and rap its potential to support sustainability, inclusivity, and robustness of the country’s economic development,” said Matchavariani.

Matchavariani noted that this is EIB’s first local currency operation in Georgia which will support the country’s de-dollarisation policies.

The EU is a strong supporter of SME development in Georgia with a number of projects implemented under the EU4Business brand. With this initiative, we aim to address the needs of promising SMEs that are unable to get financing for their investments from commercial banks,” said EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell.

EU4Business is an EU initiative that supports SMEs in the Eastern Partnership countries (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine) to support their economic growth.

source: AGENDA