EIF signs Albanian SME loan guarantee agreement

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Alpha Bank Albania have signed a 25 million-euro agreement for the financing of Albanian SMEs, as part of the EU’s COSME Loan Guarantee Facility programme that supports the access of SMEs to financing. It is the first COSME programme agreement to be signed in Albania.

Under the agreement, Alpha Bank Albania will grant loans to Albanian SMEs with limited available collateral, with the backing of COSME guarantees. It is expected that approximately 200 businesses will benefit from new financing, with reduced collateral requirements, at more favourable conditions.

“Small and medium businesses everywhere need better access to finance to create jobs, growth and turn their ideas into concrete projects,” said European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska. “Albania is now the 32nd country where small and medium companies can have access to debt finance guaranteed by the EU and I am very happy to see that more than 200 Albanian companies will now benefit from a better access to finance thanks to the EU. Overall, COSME loan guarantees provide over 25 billion euros of financing to more than 450,000 European SMEs.”