Authorities to develop regional programs supporting small and medium businesses till 2011

From 2009 to 2011, the authorities eye to develop regional projects to support small and medium enterprises (IMM). The coming weeks, debates on the plan will be taking place in different localities of the country, with the participation of local authorities and businesspeople, including consulting firms, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valentina Veverita, the head of the Small and Medium Business (SMB) Development Direction of the Economy and Trade Ministry, says the basic objectives of the SMB backup program are: adequately regulating the sector, insuring the access to financing, increasing output facilities, granting technical assistance to entrepreneurs. The system of checks and inspections is planned to be bettered to minimize the state's involvement in the operations of the SMBs. Plus, the financial and tax reporting system will be improved, Valentina Veverita said. The Government set up a fund to grant loans easier to SMBs. This fund has gathered 8 million lei up to now and grants guarantees to SMBs, up to 50% of the loans they got from commercial banks, but not more than 300,000 for a guarantee period of maximum 5 years, with a commission of 2% annually. The guarantee is 70% for the new companies, but not more than 100,000 lei, for a three-year period, with a commission of 2% annually from the amount of the guarantee granted. According to the Ministry's data, there 39,300 SMBs in Moldova. Their weight in the total number of enterprises presenting reports to the National Statistics Bureau is 98.3%. In 2007, 59.8% of the employees worked in SMBs, as these company account for 45% of the total sales.