Deputy Minister of Finance, Theodoros Skylakakis, referred to the progress made in the absorption of the resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0“.
Speaking at a special event on the benefits of the specific development tool, held in Samos, Mr. Skylakakis stated that by the end of June, payments approached 900 million euros, as against 646 million euros, foreseen by the budget. In addition, payments in 2021 amounted to €306.54 million.
The absorption of “Greece 2.0” resources, already at this point exceeds 1.2 billion euros.
The Deputy Minister of Finance also cited indicative examples of projects, with a total budget of more than 11 billion euros, which have, for now, been included in “Greece 2.0”, such as Save at home, and Digital Care (which have run their course), and Digital transformation of SMEs, Innovation and Green Transition in the Processing of Agricultural Products ( recently opened for applications), but also for a series of upcoming calls (e.g. manufacturing, agri-food, tourism programs, the new industrial parks, etc.).
Emphasis on SMEs
He pointed out that “Greece 2.0” places an emphasis on SMEs, since a large part of Recovery Fund subsidies concerns them, exclusively. At the same time, important reforms, such as tax incentives for mergers and acquisitions, have SMEs as a key target group.
In addition, he referred to the high interest recorded in the “Greece 2.0” loan program, clarifying that it concerns businesses that have a banking profile or can acquire one in the coming years and that those investors who act quickly will receive a loan with a favorable interest rate, of around 0.35%.
57 investments
Mr. Skylakakis spoke about the investment projects that have received pre-approval from the banks for favorable term loans from the Recovery Fund, as well as about the loan contracts that have already been signed. The first category includes 54 projects and the second 3 projects.
The 57 investments, with a total budget of 2.64 billion euros, concern 30 different branches of economic activity. Of this amount, 1.23 billion euros are loans from the Recovery Fund (890.33 million euros relate to green transition, 215.51 million euros to digital transformation, 41.18 million euros to innovation-research-development, and 87.31 million euros to extroversion). In addition, 614.96 million euros concern investor equity capital, while 796.64 million euros concern bank participation.
At the same time, approximately 700 projects are in the processing stage and the finalization of applications from interested investors is expected soon.
