CYPRUS: €75 mln in 2015 funding schemes, Coop bank to support

Energy and Commerce Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis announced a total of nine funding schemes worth €75 mln in the current year in an effort to boost liquidity in the economy, with the Cooperative Central Bank supporting the schemes and introducing specialised financing of its own.

Lakkotrypis and CCB Chairman Nicholas Hadjiyiannis said after a meeting on Monday that new funding schemes will be co-financed by the European structural funds during the 2014-2020 programming period.
The Commerce Minister said that by 2020 the total amount of funds that will be made available will reach €165 mln, adding that €75 mln will be allocated through nine schemes, three of which have already been announced for innovation, businesses and youth entrepreneurship.
More schemes are expected to follow for female youth entrepreneurship, small and medium sized businesses of the wine sector, manufacturing and services, processing and marketing of agricultural products and business clusters.
“Our aim is to continue with such initiatives, giving liquidity and funding to SMEs that wish to make a new investment, creating jobs and adding to the economy,” Hadjiyiannis said.
The Commerce Ministry and the Cooperative sector also announced they would finance investments in the agricultural processing industry with a total of €15 mln, from the 2006-2013 programming period.