The president of the Thessaloniki Chamber of Small and Medium-Sized Industries, Marios Papadopoulos, regarding the sudden end of the Recovery Fund, which may well result in investment projects—which until recently were considered to have secured financing through the TAA—remaining on paper.
The reason is the recent decision by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance to expedite the deadline for the submission and approval of funding applications, effectively moving the deadline from the end of August to the end of May.
“The Ministry’s decision has caused turmoil in the business world, which until recently had been operating under a different timeline. There are cases of businesses that risk being left without funding even though they had received final approval from the bank and were just about to complete the contracting process, having, however, already incurred significant investment costs,” notes Mr. Papadopoulos, emphasizing that“this development undermines credibility, as healthy businesses that received high ratings may well find themselves excluded from the Recovery Fund. Businesses remain exposed as they see their investment plans go unfunded and face the discrepancy between their eligibility for funding and the ultimately negative outcome.”
“There are also several companies that, knowing the deadline was August 31, began the process in early March, believing that the timeframe would be sufficient; however, with the recent reversal of circumstances, they may not even reach the final approval stage," notes the president of the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce, emphasizing that the Recovery Fund was a critical financing tool that strengthened the overall competitiveness of the Greek economy.
According to the president of the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce, “any investment projects that are ultimately excluded—even though companies have already begun spending and meet the requirements—should be deemed directly eligible in the next cycle —whenever that may be—they should be deemed directly eligible, without having to face competition from new investment projects. In a positive development, the approximately €2 billion transferred from the Recovery Fund to the Hellenic Development Bank should be used to finance approved investment projects.”