At the start of the pandemic, the authorities spoke about the opportunity of digitizing the economy, but the crises that came one after another at the end of last year thwarted a series of plans and some of the programs remained without financing. Their relaucnh is one of authorities’ preoccupations, Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu stated in a news conference centering on support programs for the business community.
“We are working on the updating of conditionality. The reality dictates new objectives,” said the official, being quoted by IPN. Sergiu Gaibu gave as example companies working in e-trade and e-delivery that will be able to ask for support not only for digitization, but also for other business components.
The Ministry of Economy, through the agency of the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ODIMM), this year will offer about 140 million lei in financial support. Of this sum, 85 million lei will be allocated directly to enterprises through the agency of six existing state programs that were extended and of five new programs that are being developed. 15 million lei will be used to increase the loan guarantee fund.
During the past two months alone, 297 projects to the value of 61 million lei have been financed through state programs. As many as 468 guarantees to the value of 388 million lei were issued in 2021. A sum of 1.134 billion lei was invested in the economy.
Furthermore, ODIMM, which implements the Ministry’s policies, during the last few years benefitted from substantial assistance from the EU in strengthen the state funds intended for the development of SMEs. Businesses that offer new jobs and honorable salaries are started through the agency of such programs as the program to attract remittances to the economy “PARE 1+1”, “Women in Business” and “Start for the Youth”.
A recent poll shows that only 30% of the SMEs fully know the types of assistance offered by ODIMM. For example, the 2022 budget of the “Start for the Youth” program is 20 million lei, while of “PARE 1+1“ is 30 million lei. Among other financing programs are “Second Chance” that is intended for enterprises in difficulty, “Retechnologization”, “Rural Tourism”, “Digital Transformation” and “Social Enterprises”.
