“In the forthcoming seven years, this Government is committed to allocate an initial sum of €15 million of European Funds through financial instruments such as the JEREMIE and the SME Initiative. Such an investment should help small and medium sized enterprises to benefit from around €90 million in soft loans.”

This was stated by the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds Ian Borg while addressing a press conference at the White Brothers Ltd. Complex, a company that has taken advantage of the JEREMIE initiative in the past months.

Dr. Borg pointed out that this Government did recognise the importance of the JEREMIE scheme. This scheme was subsequently extended so that €11 million of funds were now being administered by Bank Of Valletta as financial intermediary. Out of these €11 million, throughout the past year, €6 million have already been absorbed, which means that there are still around €5 million to be capitalised upon by Maltese and Gozitan enterprises.

The Parliamentary Secretary announced that more than 190 small and medium sized enterprises have gained from the JEREMIE initiative. This was helping companies to add, to modernise and to encourage diversification in the way they used to operate and thus strengthen their competitiveness. Such schemes are helping various sectors of the economy so that existing jobs are safeguarded and new ones created.

The directors at White Brothers Ltd. also explained that, thanks to such initiatives, they were planning to expand their operations by opening up new facilities at Hal-Far. This would allow the company to increase the number of its employees in the coming months.

Through concrete actions, this government is giving various opportunities to Maltese and Gozitan enterprises.

Photo – DOI/Clifton Fenech

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