Support Scheme “Grants for investments” - 200,000 EUR of EU funds through Action 3 for SMEs
Any company with a 70,000 euro profit in the last two years can access the maximum grant of 200,000 euro offered by the Romanian Government with EU Funds through Action 3 of the Support Scheme “Grants for investments”. Moreover, new eligible activities have been introduced to Action 2, supporting the companies that have been affected by the Pandemic.
The ordinance 130 that was adopted on the 31st of July, and published in the Official Gazette no. 705/06.08.2020 which regulates the framework of the grants to help companies fight and overcome this period in which many businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, through 3 major support schemes: Microgrants (2.000 EUR), Grants for workforce (15% of the revenues in 2019, no more than 150.000 EUR/company and 250,000 EUR / group of companies) or Grants for investments (between 50-200,000 EUR, to ask for the triple profit of 2019).
Action 3 - “Grants for investments” has a 550 mln. euro allocation and a score grid which points to a maximum grant equal to three times the profit registered in 2019.
“A very important aspect is that no experience is needed in that domain of activity, therefore any company with a profit in one of the last two fiscal years could request for a non-reimbursable financing for an eligible activity, as it is showed in the Appendix 3 of Action 3 - Grants for investments. Therefore, any company with an operational profit of about 70,000 euro qualifies for accessing the grant of 200,000 euro if they want to invest in an activity eligible in Appendix 31. For a maximum score, the activity should have a negative balance, and the beneficiaries be able to co-finance 45.1% of the value in Bucharest - Ilfov counties and 35.1% in the other parts of Romania”, said Roxana Mircea, partner REI Finance Advisors, one of the most dynamic consultancy agencies specialized in attracting EU funds or state aids for companies with local activity.
Of the 550 mln. euro allocated, about 82.5 mln. euro are reserved for investments made in Bucharest-Ilfov counties, respectively 412 companies that could obtain financing. Nationally, there are about 65 companies/county that could obtain a maximum grant of 200,000 euro.
New activities are eligible in Action 2 - “Grants for workforce”
Compared to the initial form, the Ordinance 130 has introduced new activities that could benefit from financing through Action 2 - “Grants for workforce” like: Meat processing, fish, fruits, dairy, activities related to printing, books and newspapers editing or photo-video equipment. Advertising agencies, companies in the creative business or artistic interpretation, education, telecom or IT are also eligible.
The Action 2 - “Workforce grants” - in this case, there is no scoring needed so it is recommended that the applicants be ready to file their application on the first day so as to maximize their chances to win the projects. With an allocation of 350 mln. euro, with an average of 100,000 euro/company, a maximum can be reached of 3,500 projects financed, about 83/county, respectively.
“We highly recommend the applicants to acquire the digital signature and to start preparation of the documentation, the budget, about two offers for each equipment or to follow the news related to this subject. Moreover, the projects should be filed in the first day/days since the opening session, having a score of 100 or minimum 90 points. As a safety measure for more trustworthy documentation and more chances to obtain the financing, we also recommend the companies to work with highly skilled consultants. This is the reason why we have decided to extend our team of specialists in the Bucharest office but also in the country to support the need for helping the companies looking for financing through EU funds or state aids proposed by the Government of Romania”, added Roxana Mircea.
