Commission approves State aid for Romania’s Investment and Development Bank (BID)
The measures consist of a capital increase of EUR 1 billion, partly funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as well as a three-year extension of the State guarantee backing Banca de Investiții și Dezvoltare S.A. (‘BID’) operations. The Commission has also approved an extension of the scope of the bank’s activities beyond those authorised in 2023, to expand its activities to support scale-up companies and projects in strategic sectors, including defence, high-tech manufacturing, high-tech knowledge-intensive industries and cybersecurity.
The Commission assessed the measures under EU State aid rules, in particular Article 107(3)(c) TFEU. It found that the measures facilitate the development of economic activities across a range of sectors that continue to face financing gaps and difficulties in obtaining sufficient funding from the market. They are necessary and appropriate to improve access to finance for companies that encounter difficulties in securing adequate financing from private investors. The measures are proportionate, as BID’s interventions remain limited to areas where market failures have been identified and the financing provided will not exceed what is necessary to achieve the intended policy objectives. Finally, they contain sufficient safeguards to avoid undue negative effects on competition and trade in the EU.
For further information, see the Commission’s PR.