“Double Your Business”, Rama: So far 32 soft loans approved, 400 businesses have applied

Prime Minister Edi Rama took part in the event organised for the “Double Your Business” programme, a scheme that aims to support small and medium-sized businesses through loans on eased terms.

Rama said that so far around 400 enterprises have entered the process, while 32 loans have been approved, with a total value of around 5 million euros.

The programme provides for loans with an interest rate of up to 2%, for amounts of up to 2 million euros, with a repayment term of up to 10 years. The scheme is also supported by a state guarantee of up to 70%.

During his speech, Rama said the programme aims to help enterprises that have managed to withstand the challenges of the market and have created a vision for expanding their activity, but face difficulties in securing financing.

“We appeal to small enterprises to become part of the programme, if they are interested. What I repeat again is that this programme is a need to support small and medium-sized enterprises that have managed to survive the challenges of the open market and that today have accumulated knowledge and have clarity on how they can grow, but do not have the financial possibilities to grow, since interest rates in the banking system are not very favourable at this moment. They need support, and for this reason we created this scheme to offer a loan with an interest of up to 2%. The repayment term of the loan is up to 10 years. This is very favourable for small and medium-sized business,” Rama said.

Rama said the pace of applications and approvals has accelerated, but according to him, the programme has room to include an even greater number of businesses.

“So far we have around 400 businesses that are in process and we have, up to the 5th, 32 loans approved for a value that goes to around 5 million euros. What we are pleased to see is the accelerated pace, but the room is for much more,” Rama said.