In May 2020, the Council of Ministers approved and assigned BDB with the implementation of the "Program for liquidity support through portfolio guarantees for micro and SMEs affected by the declared emergency and COVID-19 outbreak" (hereinafter referred to as the Program).
The Programme has been renewed by new Council of Ministers Decisions of 4 November 2020 and 5 March 2021, with the latest amendment being by Council of Ministers Decision of 5 August 2021, and aligning the Programme as much as possible with the upgrading mechanism for integration through liquidity support for enterprises developed by the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance, referred to in short as the "Recovery Programme".
The changes are implemented in the work of the partner banks soon. Following the changes, the companies will be able to apply under the updated framework terms and conditions as described below.
The objective of the Programme is for BDB to provide guarantees in favor of commercial banks (see list below), which, in turn, will create portfolios of loans available to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as small mid-cap businesses, of up to 499 employees inclusive, meeting one of the following criteria: assets of up to EUR 100 million inclusive, or sales revenue of up to EUR 86 million inclusive), which have been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 and provide liquidity for their business activities.
The Guarantee Bank (BDB) provides guarantee coverage of 80% of the principal of each loan under the program.
This government measure has been approved by the European Commission (EC) and is a state aid, which must also meet the conditions set out in the Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak. (EC State Aid Temporary Framework).
The latest amendments to this government measure (the Recovery Programme) were approved by the European Commission (EC) on 1 October 2021.
The program is open to all sectors and is implemented by BDB’s partner banks all over the country.
Eligible borrowers: micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Act (SME Act), as well as businesses of up to 499 employees inclusive, meeting one of the following two criteria: assets of up to EUR 100 million inclusive and/or sales revenue of up to EUR 86 million inclusive (small mid-caps), which suffer from the negative economic effects of COVID-19.
New loans for investment and/or liquidity needs for working capital, including payment of wages, rents, overheads and other costs directly related to the business activity of the enterprises, may be included in the guarantees provided by the BDB.
Investment needs will be funded subject to the provision of proofs of expenses approved by the commercial banks.
