The government is committed to allocate an initial sum of €15 million of European Funds through financial instruments such as the Jeremie and the SME Initiative, helping small and medium sized enterprises benefit from around €90 million in soft loans, EU Funds Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg said.
Addressing a news conference, Dr Borg said that the government acknowledged the importance of the Jeremie scheme and extended it so that €11 million of funds were now being administered by Bank of Valletta as financial intermidiary.
€6 million were absorbed throughout the past year leaving €5 million to be capitalised upon by Maltese and Gozitan enterprises.
Dr Borg said that more than 190 small and medium sized enterprises gained from the initiative that was helping companies add, modernise and encourage diversification in the way they operated, strengthening their competitivness.