EBRD to lend 400 million euro to France’s SocGen to back SMEs in Eastern Europe

TIRANA, July 29ؔhe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it is lending some 400 million euro in credit lines to French banking group Societe Generale to back small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Eastern Europe.
The majority of the EBRD funding to the subsidiaries is for SME lending with the main aim of supporting this sector via loans to Societe Generale units that are of systemic importance in their countries and which have SME sector expertise, EBRD said in a statement.
The 400 million euro loan facility is part of a 24.5 billion euro package arranged jointly with the European Investment Bank and the World Bank Group, which have committed to provide up to 24.5 billion euro in lending to the crisis-hit SME sector in central and eastern Europe.
The EBRD said it expects to invest over 3.0 billion euro in support of the financial sector this year, focused on systemically important financial institutions and including other joint initiatives with major banking groups active in the region.
Societe Generale Group employs 163,000 worldwide. In Southeastern Europe it operates in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.