The Community of Madrid, ICO and EIB earmark 325 million euros to facilitate access to financing of the region's companies and SMEs

11 mayo 2018

  • The Community of Madrid and ICO sign the extension of their collaboration agreement
  • The Community of Madrid has facilitated access to financing for more than 3,400 companies in the region
  • 70 % of the beneficiary companies have been micro-SMEs

The Community of Madrid and the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) have signed an extension of the agreement that facilitates access to finance for companies and SMEs in the region, under the "EIB to ICO financing programme for companies with regionalisation criteria", with 500 million euros available for the whole of Spain. With this new agreement, signed today by Engracia Hidalgo, acting Minister for Economic Affairs, Employment and Finance, in addition to the 200 million euros approved in 2016 and which have been 100% implemented, a total of 325 million euros will be made available to Madrid's businesses, to be provided in equal shares by ICO and the EIB.
  
Thanks to the degree of compliance with the 2016 agreement, the Community of Madrid and ICO have signed an extension of 125 million, up to 325 million, as the agreement itself contemplates that "the amount could be increased depending on the demand within our Community and the amount available in the total amount foreseen for the Autonomous Communities as a whole". In addition to the amount of the agreement, its validity has been extended until 2020.
 
Navarre, Murcia and Galicia, with 25, 50 and 100 million euros respectively, are other communities that have joined this programme.
 
MORE THAN 3,400 MADRID COMPANIES BENEFIT FROM THE PROGRAMME
 
Through this agreement, the  Community of Madrid has facilitated access to financing for 3,443 companies in Madrid, prioritising those in the industrial sector, labour-intensive sectors, fast-growing sectors in new market niches, as well as companies located in areas with the greatest loss of employment. In addition, special consideration has been given to certain areas such as nanotechnology, advanced materials, industrial and space technologies; health, biotechnology, water and food; energy, environment and transport; and information and communication technologies.
 
Concerning the type of company, of the 3,443 operations carried out, most of them (70%) were for micro-SMEs, i.e. companies with up to nine employees, followed by SMEs (23.5%) and medium-sized companies (6%).
 
With regard to the amount, the operations carried out for micro-SMEs amounted to a total of 83.7 million euros, which represents 43.5% of the total amount of the agreement. In turn, operations for SMEs amounted to 74.3 million euros (37.5%) and those for medium-sized companies amounted to a total of 38.3 million euros, 19% of the total.
 
As regards the average loan amount, 68% of the transactions were no more than 50,000 euros, 16% were between 50,000 and 100,000 euros and 15% were between 100,000 and 500,000 euros. Only 1% of the loans have been for more than 500,000 euros.
 
By sector, the Services sector accounted for most of the financing (82%), with 2,815 operations for a total amount of 161 million euros. Within this sector, commerce, professional activities and the hospitality industry are the ones where most operations have been carried out.
 
The Services sector is followed by Industry, with 12% of the operations (404) for an amount of 28 million euros, and in third place is the Construction sector, with 6% (222 operations) with loans amounting to 11 million euros.