Bank of Valletta, through its EU and SME Desk is assisting its customers in benefitting from the interest rate subsidy scheme.
Through the scheme, the Maltese government, through Malta Enterprise, subsidises the interest rates on bank business loans to restaurants and hotels for refurbishment and expansion projects.
“Bank of Valletta is financing over €245 million worth of tourism related projects. The bank has assisted tourism operators to benefit from EU structural funds by its financing and co-financing tourism packages and value-added services to enhance Malta’s competitiveness within the tourism sector. The bank is now committed to offer its expertise to its customers to tap into lower interest rates on borrowing through the Malta Enterprise Scheme,” BoV said.
Tourism contributed over €1.1 billion towards the local economy in 2010 with over 1.3 million visitors to Malta. Malta International Airport registered a 14.9 per cent increase in passenger movement during January 2011 over the same period last year.