Italy: EUR 60 million for Sicily’s small businesses through JEREMIE

EIF and the Sicily Region signed today in Rome an agreement to set up a JEREMIE holding fund for providing financial support for Sicily’s small businesses through a variety of instruments and making available microcredit, worth a total of EUR 60 million.

JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the EIF for improving small firms’ access to credit under the 2007-2013 Structural Funds Framework Programme.

The JEREMIE agreement signed today provides for the creation of a EUR 60 million fund enabling the Sicily Region to use ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) resources to support Sicily’s small businesses during the period 2009-2013.

The fund will establish partnerships with various types of financial institution to channel financial resources to small firms. JEREMIE will especially be able to offer selected financial intermediaries a wide range of dedicated products – e.g. guarantees, microcredit and securitisation. This is a revolving fund ensuring long-term support for small businesses and will not provide grants to SMEs.
This is the second JEREMIE agreement in Italy following the one signed with the Campania Region a year ago.

For more information, download here the Italian version (PDF)

Press contacts:

Emanuela Schiavoni, tel.: +352 42 66 88 326, email: e.schiavoni@eif.org

David Yormesor, tel.: +352 42 66 88 346, email: d.yormesor@eif.org