The first ten small and medium-sized enterprises of Moldova filed applications to get grants from the matching grant facility sub-component the World Bank-funded Second Competitiveness Enhancement Project (CEP II), IPN reports.

Executive director of the Project Implementation Unit Aurel Casian in an interview said that even it is only about two months since the co-financing component was launched, the SMEs already presented the first projects to obtain grants for implementing them.

“The projects are very interesting and original. Our team is now assessing the presented projects. One of them was preliminarily endorsed. It was submitted by an electronics company based in Balti, which exports products to Germany and Romania. We hope that the first grants will be soon approved,” stated Casian.

The value of the matching grants facility is US$3 million. By these grants, the WB will cover 50% of the costs of consultancy services for enhancing competitiveness and increasing exports intended for SMEs, but not more than 200,000 lei per applicant.

The project supports SME development by strengthening SMEs’ linkages to markets and providing matching grants to implement business improvement practices focused on export competitiveness. It provides medium- and long-term financing for working capital and investment purposes to export-oriented enterprises, and promotes improvements in other financing tools and suitable models for value chain financing in such sectors as agriculture, food and beverages, electronics industry, textiles and information technologies.

“We anticipate that 250 SMEs will benefit from grants by 2019, by when CEP II will be implemented,” stated Casian.

The Second Competitiveness Enhancement Project (2015-2019) has a budget of US$45 million, of which US$15 million represents the loan of the International Development Association, while US$30 million - the loan of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.