Additional funding of 3 bln euros being provided for companies

Corporations in Greece can look forward to fresh liquidity of 3 billion euros in working capital through the banks and the Guarantee Fund, in the second phase of loans expected to start next month. On Tuesday the Hellenic Development Bank is expected to issue an invitation to banks so that they participate in this second phase as of mid-October.

The Guarantee Fund is the biggest program supplying cash flow, expected to total €6 billion through both its stages by the end of the year. The bulk of this batch of loans will go to small and medium-sized enterprises, while the program will also be open to corporations that have collected loans through the Entrepreneurship Fund II (TEPIX II) or in the first phase of the Guarantee Fund.

This constitutes a significant change in the government’s financing policy and is a decision made by Deputy Development Minister Yiannis Tsakiris, who considered the needs for liquidity and for the full absorption of the Guarantee Fund resources until the end of the year.

Hellenic Development Bank chief executive Athina Hatzipetrou said the lender “has ended up lifting this limitation, weighing market conditions and following the decision by the investment committee that is responsible for the approval of the structure of funding programs.”

Meanwhile the Finance Ministry decided on Monday to extend the third phase of the program for cheap state loans to corporations, known as the “Deposit To Be Returned” until next Monday, September 28, due to the problems caused by the medicane dubbed Ianos.

The sum of the loans to be issued with favorable terms in this phase comes to €1.5 billion, and seasonal and tourism enterprises that do not even have a till can apply.

After the end of this process a new, fourth cycle will begin in November with a total amount of €600 million to be disbursed. That stage will also incorporate, under special terms, the regions hurt by the Mediterranean hurricane.