Business Loans
Business loans are granted to cover specific needs, depending on the type of borrower. More specifically, business loans are granted for:
- Working capital for your business
- Equipment purchase
- Land purchase
- Purchase of goods
- Construction or renovation of business premises
- Leasing solutions for acquiring fixed business equipment with options for equipment leasing, vendor leasing, and green leasing
- Leasing solutions for acquiring means of transport
- Flexible leasing solutions for acquiring commercial properties
- Small businesses wishing to invest in their energy upgrade
- SMEs wishing to invest in photovoltaic systems
- Supplier payments
Beneficiaries are: General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Sociétés Anonymes (S.A.), Limited Liability Companies (LLC), Sole Proprietorships.
Each financial institution checks whether a loan can be granted to a business, and the conditions and characteristics of the loan usually differ.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) ushers in a new era for Greek entrepreneurship and the reconstruction of our country's economy.
The low-interest loans from the RRF aim to finance significant investments and cover up to 50% of the cost of each investment plan. Private participation covers at least 20% of the investment budget, while the banking institution will finance at least 30%.
Budget: approximately €83,000,000
The Fund, financed by the European Social Fund and the "Competitiveness" Programme 2021-2027, aims to support approximately 3,300 businesses, of which 1,000 will be women-led businesses.
Beneficiaries:
For the General Entrepreneurship Sub-programme:
- Very small entities, as defined in Article 2 of Law 4308/2014 (A'251), as amended by Law 5164/2024, which, on their balance sheet date, do not exceed the limits in at least two (2) of the following three (3) criteria (Law 4308/2014) during the financial year:
-Average personnel fewer than or equal to 10 people.
-Total assets fewer than or equal to €450,000.
-Net turnover fewer than or equal to €900,000.
- Natural persons engaged in sole proprietorship.
- Categories of businesses that may be determined as provided in Article 15, par. 2 of Law 4701/2020 (Government Gazette A' 128/30.06.2020).
For the Women's Entrepreneurship Sub-programme:
In addition to the above eligibility criteria, businesses of any legal form (with the exception of civil partnerships), where in the case of corporate schemes, the shareholder/partner with a percentage of > 50% is a woman and the management/representation of the business is carried out by a woman. In the case of sole proprietorships, the owner must be a woman.
Loan Amounts and Loan Duration
The Microcredit Fund's budget provides for the granting of low-interest loans of €80 million, ranging from €3,000 to €25,000, with a duration of 12 to 96 months, and a grace period option of up to 6 months.
The Fund will provide interest-free financing at a rate of 60% for general entrepreneurship or 75% for women's entrepreneurship.
Budget: €300,000,000
The Fund's budget was set at €300,000,000, following an increase in resources by €100,000,000.
Beneficiaries
The Fund concerns eligible small and medium-sized enterprises that are established and legally operating in Greece.
Participation Conditions
A. The financed enterprise is fully exempt from interest for the part of the loan co-financed by the fund (i.e., 40% of each loan), given that this amount is provided interest-free by the Fund.
B. The Fund may subsidize a portion of the interest rate applied by the Credit Institution to its capital (i.e., 60% of each loan). The subsidy applies to the first 2 years of the loan (from the 1st disbursement) and reduces the Credit Institution's interest rate by 3%, which correspondingly reduces the final loan interest rate.
C. Each Credit Institution participating in the Fund is obliged to reduce the interest rate of each loan by at least 25 basis points (bps) annually compared to the interest rates that would apply to similar financing without the Fund's participation.
D. The maximum amount of collateral that the Credit Institution may request for each financing may not exceed 100% of the loan principal.
Loan Amounts
The loan amount can range as follows:
Sub-programme 1 for Investment Loans:
Action 1.1: Loans via De Minimis (Reg. (EU) 2831/2023) from €20,000 to €1,500,000
Action 1.2: Loans via GBER (Art. 21) from €20,000 to €8,000,000
Sub-programme 2 for Special Purpose Working Capital Loans
Action 2.1: Loans via De Minimis (Reg. (EU) 2831/2023) from €10,000 to €500,000
Loan Duration
Sub-programme 1 for Investment Loans: From 5 to 12 years, including any grace period up to 24 months.
Sub-programme 2 for Special Purpose Working Capital Loans: From 2 to 5 years, including any grace period up to 12 months.
InvestEU is the proposed EU investment program to kickstart the European economy. It is capable of providing long-term financing and supporting the Union's policies for recovery from a deep economic and social crisis. This was demonstrated by the successful implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments and other EU financial instruments during previous economic crises.
Greece commits €500 million, which will be allocated to finance the national component of InvestEU for investments in the country.
This money will act as a guarantee, enabling Greek commercial banks collaborating with the program to grant working capital and investment loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, totaling €2.5 billion from early 2023.
He clarified that for the first time, the national component of this European program is being activated, exclusively targeting Greek businesses.
The InvestEU program is being activated in parallel with the extensive lending program of €11.7 billion from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0", with the ultimate goal of covering the significant investment and financing gap across the entire spectrum of businesses.
