As part of its SME Competitiveness programme, the EU and the EBRD have put in place a €25 million guarantee facility, to enable €100 million of new financing by Ukraine’s KredoBank.
- EBRD opens a limit of up to €25 million available under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) to expand access to trade finance to Ukrainian enterprises
- As part of the EU-funded SMEs competitiveness programme, local businesses have access to expert advice and investment incentives
- Beneficiaries will be agribusiness and companies in other critical industries
The European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are supporting food security and other critical industries in wartime Ukraine with a new risk-sharing agreement in favour of KredoBank, a subsidiary of PKO Bank Polski. The operation will also extend technical expertise and provide investment incentives to eligible businesses.
Under the risk-sharing agreement signed between the EBRD and KredoBank on 26 July 2023, the EBRD provides a €25 million guarantee, which covers 50 per cent of the credit risk of newly originated financing provided by KredoBank up to a total value of €100 million, subject to a portfolio cap of 50 per cent. The facility will be provided in two equal tranches.
The risk-sharing facility will help KredoBank to provide access to finance for Ukrainian companies operating in critical industries such as primary agriculture and agricultural services, food processing, transport and logistics, retail and pharmaceuticals. It will also help safeguard food security and preserve livelihoods in Ukraine, where core economic sectors have been severely impacted by Russia’s invasion last February.
In addition, as part of EU’s SME Competitiveness programme (EaP SMEC), €15 million of the total €100 million covered portfolio will be available to acquisition by micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) of greener technologies and equipment that helps Ukrainian MSMEs meet EU technical and sanitary standards.
By joining the EaP SMEC programme, KredoBank and its clients will also benefit from expert advice in the form of training and support provided by consultants. Eligible borrowers can also receive grant support in the form of investment incentives upon the completion of their investment projects.
The EBRD facility will be supported by a 50 per cent donor-funded first-loss risk cover as part of the Bank’s resilience package arrangements. The latest risk-sharing facility brings the total volume of enabled financing to €468 million under similar guarantees since the start of the war.
Background
KredoBank is a leading bank in the western part of Ukraine, ranked 14th by total assets (US$ 1.1 billion). KredoBank is wholly owned by PKO Bank Polski SA, the largest systemically important bank in Poland, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The SME Competitiveness Programme is an EU-funded programme, which focuses on incentivising capex investments of highly advanced technologies and processes and encouraging best practice among successful growing businesses in order to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) active in the Eastern Partnership Countries can increase their competitiveness.
