Romanian Guarantee Fund '10 Payments To Banks Rise To RON95M

The fund is a state-owned financial institution which partly guarantees loans taken by small- and medium-sized companies.

Last year, it had estimated a surge in payments following the increase in the number of insolvent companies.

"Last year, 77% of payment requests targeted loans that financed working capital," fund official Rodica Ionescu told the MEDIAFAX Talks about SMEs conference Tuesday.

The largest payment, namely 49% were for companies in retail, while 26% targeted the manufacturing industry, 11% targeted services, 10% went to construction and 4% went to agriculture.

The number of contracts redeemed rose to some 240 in 2010, from more than 100 in 2009.

Last year, the fund issued guarantees worth some EUR600 million, up 40% on the year, while the number of contracts rose by 1,000, to 7,900.

Most guarantees were issued for companies in retail, 39%, followed by industry - 25%, services - 16%, construction - 14% and agriculture - 7%.

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