Romania: Bank Lending to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Rural areas; an Analysis of Supply and Demand

Investment Centre Division

Romania: Bank Lending to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Rural areas; an Analysis of Supply and Demand

Report N. 9 - January 2005

Year of publication 2005

Pages 158 p.

Author Investment Centre Division

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Document

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) The economic situation in Romania has improved over the last years and starting in 2001 the growth rate averaged some 5 percent per year. Also the development of the financial sector has gathered pace and domestic and foreign direct investments, in view of the country’s accession to the EU in 2007, are rapidly picking up. These favourable trends, however, are far from being evenly distributed over the territory: Bucharest and a few other big towns in more favourable regions account for the bulk of the growth, while a large part of the country’s economic potential, representing small cities and rural communities, is not fully utilized. One of the reasons that financial resources allocated to rural areas remain under-utilized is the inadequacy of financial services to match the needs of local business, notwithstanding the number of specially designed financing programs in this respect. This publication is part of report series published under the FAO Investment Centre/European Bank f or Reconstruction and Development Cooperation Programme. The series presents sector reviews and studies undertaken in Central and Eastern Europe that cover development issues and innovative areas to increase investment in agriculture in the region. Romania's entry into the European Union in 2007 is expected to have a significant impact on the country's small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in rural areas. EBRD's Financial Institutions team, together with its Agribusiness team, h as developed a Facility to mix EU grant and EBRD loans in favour of rural SMEs in EU accession countries. EBRD called upon FAO's expertise to review lending opportunities in Romania's rural sector. This report was prepared to put forward recommendations to EBRD and local financial intermediaries, on which clients the EU/EBRD Facility should focus and on the types of financial products required to serve these new clients. The analysis can be used by other local or international financial institut ions interested in rural credit.

Language English

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