The companies will be able to get EUR 5,000 to EUR 25,000 to fund their activity, except the purchase of a vehicle or repayment of old loans.

Eligible for the microloans at the 3.5% interest rate are micro and small companies with 1 to 50 employees whose annual revenues do not exceed EUR 10m.

The fund was set in 1992 as the main national financial institution designed to make funds more accessible to micro, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).

In 2013, the fund approved over EUR 95m in favourable funds, in this way supporting 760 projects around the country.

Guarantees for loans represented the biggest share of these funds, or EUR 55.2 million.

The fund also gave out grants to 40 start-ups younger than 18 months which applied for the funds for the first time.

What is more, 90 companies received a grant for the second or third year in a row.

In total, EUR 4m was distributed in grants for start-ups.

The fund also recorded a major interest in grants for the purchase of new technological equipment last year.