Public Invitation for Small and Medium Enterprises – Grant of RSD 1.55 Billion for Procurement of Equipment

The Ministry of Economy has opened the public invitation for small, medium and micro enterprises and entrepreneurs, as well as cooperatives, for the allocation of a grant through the Program of Support to Small and Medium Enterprises for the Procurement of Equipment. A total of RSD 1.55 billion in grants has been set aside for this program, the ministry said.

Through this program, which is a combination of favorable credits and state grants, the ministry is co-financing the procurement of new production equipment and equipment directly involved in the process of production of exchangeable goods and execution of construction works of up to 25% of the net value of the equipment, whereas 70% of the net value of the equipment which is being procured is financed from loans from banks and leasing companies, and the business entity participates with 5%.

The funds can be used for the procurement of new production equipment and/or machines; transport-handling devices involved in the process of production and internal transport; new components and specialized tools for machines; machines and equipment for upgrade of energy efficiency and ecological aspects of the production; building mechanization for construction works; and the amount of the allocated grant of up to 25% of the value of the equipment may not be higher than RSD 5,000,000.

The amount of the grants that can be allocated is determined relative to the number of employees: one employee – up to RSD 1 million, 2-5 employees – up to RSD 2.5 million, 6 and more employees – up to RSD 5 million.

Interested business entities should file a request for a grant along with a loan request at one of the banks or leasing houses which is a partner in the program.

The banks and leasing companies, partners of the ministry in the realization of the program, are: Halkbank, Postanska stedionica, ProCredit Bank, Credit Agricole Bank Serbia, Erste Bank, Eurobank, Intesa Leasing and UniCredit Leasing.

– For the purposes of an efficient and transparent realization of said program, the Ministry of Economy of Serbia has developed a software system which supports all processes, including, among other things, the reception and processing of the grant requests in an electronic form. Also, the software application is equipped with tools which enable automatic transfer of data from other state organs (Business Registers Agency, Tax Administration, CROSO), which reduces the time needed for the allocation of grants and brings down the possibility of human error in filling out the request to a minimum – the press release says.

The public call is open until the available funds are spent, and the deadline is December 31, 2021.