BELGRADE (Serbia), September 13 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a 160 million euro ($177 million) financial package to UniCredit Bank Serbia to back small businesses and mortgage lending, the bank said.
This facility includes a 100 million euro loan for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve access to finance and a 60 million euro mortgage loan for first-time homeowners, with 60% of the total loan amount allocated for lending outside the Serbian capital, the EBRD said in a statement on Thursday.
The EBRD is extending a 35 million euro credit line in Serbian dinars, included in the 100 million euro loan, in order to boost the use of local currency, reduce the possible effect of exchange rate volatility and increase funding options for small borrowers, it explained.
“We are pleased to further our cooperation with our long-standing partner UniCredit Bank by offering financing in foreign and local currency to Serbian businesses and extending mortgage loans to Serbian citizens. Not only will this agreement help companies to invest and improve their competitiveness, but it will also support many people in finding a new home,” the EBRD Regional Head of the Western Balkans, Zsuzsanna Hargitai, noted.
UniCredit Bank Serbia is a long-standing partner of the EBRD and the facility is the largest between the two banks to date.
“Recognising the importance of the SME sector, a key engine of economic growth and job creation, we are striving to find ways to offer products and services that can help them improve and expand their businesses,” the CEO of UniCredit Bank Serbia, Feza Tan, said.
The EBRD has invested more than 5 billion euro across 250 projects in Serbia to date.
($ = 0.903783 euro)
UniCredit Bank Srbija AD is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here