EU loans for small businesses
TIRANA (AP) – A European agency this week launched a -244.5 million lending project to help promote development in Southeast Europe. The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), funded by the European Union and business donors, provides long-term funding for micro and small businesses, as well as housing and rural finance. The fund will provide up to 150,000 small loans of -4,000-6,000 to small enterprises and farmers in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania. «We are convinced that EFSE is the modern version of the Marshall Plan of the 21st century,» said Klaus Maurer of the fund. EFSE is the successor of various finance funds and has provided more than 45,000 loans worth almost -280 million since being set up in 1998.
