Governor Mehmeti: Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF) has facilitated access to financing

The Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, Fehmi Mehmeti, highly appreciated the commitment of the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund.

In marking the 3rd anniversary of the official launch of this fund and the signing of the agreement with the European Investment Fund for the COSME Program, Governor Mehmeti said that for CBK it was a privilege to contribute within its legal mandate to the process of fund establishment, in particular in the area of adequate legal framework. 

“This fund has achieved tremendous success during these three years, helping the country’s economic development and opening of new jobs. For such a short time, the fund has managed to guarantee more than 2560 loans in the amount of EUR 100 million, where the guaranteed amount was EUR 47.5 million. Studies made so far, show that, among other things, access to finance is an obstacle to the development of private sector businesses. The challenges faced by small, medium and micro enterprises on the one hand and obstacles faced by financial institutions to assess the risk in the case of financing are already known. The Fund has served to overcome these challenges by facilitating access to finance for small, micro and micro businesses by guaranteeing loans. This additional funding mechanism has helped them to develop, create new jobs, export and thus to position Kosovo at a competitive level in the regional and European markets”, said Governor Mehmeti. 

He stated that the essential prerequisite for the proper functioning of the fund is to interact with a stable and efficient banking system, while the continuous growth of competition in the banking system and the advancement of this sector have affected the cost and financing conditions to improve significantly and at the same time have marked significant improvement. 

“The agreement between the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund and the European Investment Fund enables the guarantee portfolio to be earmarked up to EUR 45 million over a two year period to a credible institution such as the European Investment Fund, and this will have an impact on increasing access to financing for small, medium and micro businesses. With these benefits that the fund will have, we expect to reduce the fee for credit guaranteed by the European Investment Fund. CBK will continue to ensure financial stability we now have”, stated Governor Mehmeti, promising CBKs further support to the Kosovo Trust Fund, in order for the same to have financial sustainability and to be at the service of business development.