Recovery Fund: Greek banks say they are ready to use its capital

With the signing of business agreements for loans of the Recovery and Resilience Fund “Greece 2.0” amounting to 970 million euros, between the Ministry of Finance with six domestic credit institutions to be completed just a few days ago, at the end of 2021 Greek banks say ready utilization of the relevant funds.

Under these agreements, as announced by the Ministry of Finance on the occasion of the signing of the contracts, 970 million euros will be disbursed directly to the Greek credit institutions. Similar agreements have been signed with two international financial institutions, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), for which an additional € 600 million is expected to be disbursed. Therefore, an amount of 1.570 billion euros will be immediately available to finance investments in Greece.

Based on the procedure provided by the Recovery Fund, within 30 working days the specific six domestic credit institutions will publish calls for expressions of interest to investors who wish to receive a loan from “Greece 2.0” for the implementation of their plans. To be eligible, investments must contribute to one or more of the following objectives: 1) green transition, 2) digital transformation, 3) innovation – research and development, 4) development of economies of scale through partnerships and mergers, and 5) extroversion. Of the 30.5 billion euros of “Greece 2.0”, 12.7 billion euros relate to loans and the remaining 17.8 billion euros to subsidies. The total amount for investments and reforms that will be mobilized, through leverage, is expected to exceed 60 billion euros.

Greek banks have stated that they are ready

For their part, the managements of all Greek banks in their public interventions have stressed that after systematic preparation during the last months they are ready both in terms of infrastructure and organization, as well as in terms of human resources to manage transparency as quickly as possible. and quality in servicing lending applications. As Greek banks have pointed out, now free from the great challenge of the domestic banking system which was none other than non-performing loans, having dramatically improved the level of liquidity, with strong capital adequacy and their digital transformation at an extremely satisfactory level, they are focusing on financing of the Greek economy with emphasis on the utilization of the funds of the Recovery Fund.

In all their public interventions, the bank executives have expressed their confidence in the development prospects of the Greek economy and the domestic banking system. This fact creates great interest for investments in our country in many sectors of the economy, focusing on the Recovery Fund and the prospects that are created for the change of the economic model of the country from the utilization of these funds. As they have pointed out, they have already contacted their customers, in order to maximize the utilization of capital, which concerns not only large companies but also small and medium-sized enterprises, which will become more competitive from the utilization of these capitals and will be strengthened. . They also pointed out that the role of banks will not be limited to lending, but will also focus on the consulting sector, where banks play an important role.

Source: AMPE