The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry welcomed the launch of a new scheme facilitating access to finance for SMEs as well as of Venture Capital Malta.

“The funds being allocated by Malta under the finance to SMEs initiative will amount to €15 million, which will have a potential leverage effect of four times as much capital from which SMEs may benefit.

“Indeed the Malta Chamber has always pronounced itself positively about initiatives of this kind. The previous Jeremie initiative administered by a local financial institution was a resounding success and was fully subscribed. This and other initiatives aimed at SMEs showed that there is clear demand for similar schemes from the business community,” it said.

The funds being allocated will amount to €15 million

The Chamber agrees with the European Commission that there is a need for local firms to be able to tap into foreign venture capital markets and other types of equity based financing.

“In its economic vision, the Malta Chamber noted that an ‘equity gap’ exists in the provision of modest amounts of equity finance to SMEs. This denotes that equity-type financing goes almost unnoticed by both potential investors and smaller businesses seeking to explore their growth potential.

“There is also a clear gap in the market for alternative sources of financing which are more suitable to less traditional activities which are emerging in our economy as it continues to enhance its knowledge based and creative sectors,” it said.