The loans were provided as part of a pilot programme of a loan fund for boosting development, combining bank (loans) and budget (grants) funds, aimed at securing higher efficiency in the use of budget funds.

Such loans are thus cheaper on the market and are comparable to those available to rivals of Slovenian companies in the area of technology and development in their respective countries.

According to SID, a similar model combining public and bank funds could also be used in phasing EU funds.

SID chairman Sibil Svilan pointed out that the favourable funding was given for the R&D, commercialisation of know-how and market break-through as the riskiest stages of the projects, requiring long-term financing.

The multiplier for the allocated funds stands at EUR 4.67, while considering that the funds in the form of loans are returned and can be reused for new projects, the multiplier is estimated at EUR 7.26.

The highest share of SID's loans in this programme has been allocated to companies of the Savinjsko region (EUR 45m) in eastern Slovenia, followed by the northwestern Gorenjsko region (EUR 25m) and central Slovenia (EUR 17m).