Loan Funds
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) Greece 2.0 includes a particularly important measure to strengthen the country’s competitiveness, that is the provision of loans to finance private investments. For this purpose, through the relevant loan agreement between the Greek State and the European Commission, Greece will draw from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, loans amounting to €17.7 billion., of which €16.7 billion will be channeled through commercial banks, to finance investments, by:
- loans granted by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (50% maximum)
- investors’ own funds (20% minimum) and
- loans granted by the contracted commercial banks (30% minimum).
The first 970 million euros from the total loans of 12.7 billion euros from the Development Fund that were transferred to commercial banks to finance private investments will be made available to private investors at an interest rate of 0.35%.
Eligible Beneficiaries
- Proposals for financing investment plans can be submitted by individuals or legal entities, as long as they are not excluded due to their statutory or headquarters and do not belong to the excluded activities according to the Ministerial Decision 159335 2021 “Criteria for evaluating the eligibility of investment plans financed by Recovery and Resilience Facility Loans”.
- In the case of a legal entity, the Beneficiary must also fall under at least one of the following cases:
(a) be a private company, or
(b) be any company with state participation in its share capital equal or less than (50%) of its total share capital, or
- c) be any company irrespectively of the percentage of the state participation in its share capital that owns and/or manages power networks and operates as a natural monopoly.
Each candidate may submit more than one project proposal or participate in more than one potential eligible candidates.
Eligible Investments
The amount of financing for the investment plan, from the Recovery Fund loan, ranges from 35% to 50% of the total approved budget of each investment.
It is calculated according to the existence of a budget of eligible investment expenses in the five pillars of the loan scheme of “Greece 2.0”, as well as the coverage of specific criteria per pillar:
| Green transition | Green transition investments that contribute to the green tagging of NRRP correspond to at least 20% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
| Digital transformation | Digital transformation investments that contribute to the digital tagging of NRRP correspond to at least 10% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
| Innovation, research & development | Eligibility coverage of at least one Innovation – research & development Index (as specified in article 4 of the Ministerial Decision on Eligibility Criteria) and at the same time minimum budget of innovation – research & development investments of at least 10% of the total budget of the Eligible Investment. |
| Business scale up | Existing or new partnership, or establishment of a new entity as a result of a merger / acquisition. Partnership is an activity governed by long-term (with contractual or actual term longer than 5 years) binding partnership agreements between non-affiliated companies with a view to promoting jointly their business activities, or through the establishment of legal entities with the same objectives (joint ventures, cooperatives, organizations and groups of producers irrespective of their legal form, inter alia). |
| Extroversion | The eligibility of the investment plans is alternatively determined through: a. The average of the investor’s current export activity reaching at least 15% of its turnover. The investor’s financial data of the last three financial years are reviewed, or alternatively the percentage of the turnover corresponding to transactions though foreign credit cards or remittances. b. Minimum export budget of the investment plan reaching at least 15% of the projected total income arising from the investment plan (viability study). On a separate basis, investment plans that include tourist accommodation, complex tourist accommodation, and tourist residential complexes with at least 5 independent tourist residences are de facto eligible. |
Eligible Expenses
Regarding the eligible expenses of investment projects financed with loans from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, these include those incurred within the Greek territory and concern the following:
- Land purchase, land use (depreciation/lease), land development.
- Buildings purchase/construction, buildings use (depreciation/lease).
- Equipment purchase/construction, equipment use (depreciation/lease).
- Means of transport purchase, means of transport use (depreciation/lease).
- Intangibles purchase/construction, intangibles use (depreciation/subscriptions).
- Payroll linked to the investment plan.
- Travel/expenses.
- Third-party services.
- Consumables.
- Operational (communication, energy, maintenance, rent, administrative expenses, insurance, etc.).
- Cost of capital.
- Working capital (operating expenses, expenses related to the business’s transactional circuit, VAT, etc.).
- Promotion and communication (marketing) expenses.
The purchase of land is eligible, as long as it is related to the investment plan and does not exceed 30% of the eligible costs of the investment plan.
Ineligible Activities
The following are excluded from the Recovery Fund loans:
- Activities prohibited by applicable national legislation.
- Activities that restrict individual rights and freedoms or violate human rights.
- In the field of defence activities, the use, development or production of products and technologies prohibited by applicable international law.
- Products and activities related to tobacco (production, distribution, processing and trade).
- Activities excluded from funding in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Horizon Europe Regulation.
- Gambling (production, manufacturing, distribution, processing, trade or software activities).
- Sex trade and related infrastructure, services and means.
- Activities involving live animals for experimental and scientific purposes, provided that there is no guarantee of compliance with the relevant European Convention.
- Real estate development activity. However, activities in the real estate sector, related to the objectives of the Fund and falling within one of the five pillars of its loan arm, are eligible.
- Financial activities aimed at the disposal of assets, as well as activities of banking institutions and their affiliated undertakings, carrying out financial and insurance activities.
- Decommissioning, operation, adaptation or construction of nuclear power plants.
- Activities and assets related to fossil fuels, including their subsequent use.
- Activities and assets, under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to achieve the planned greenhouse gas emissions, which are not lower than the relevant benchmarks set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/447.
- Activities and assets related to landfills, incinerators and mechanical biological treatment plants.
- Activities and assets where long-term disposal of waste may harm the environment.
We grow your business together, opening new horizons.
Revival Consulting Services, with more than 25 years of experience and over 2,500 successful projects, undertakes each project holistically, from the submission, evaluation and monitoring of an investment, to its completion, with the disbursement of the intended grant.
Within the framework of Development Programs, we provide business organization services for inclusion in development programs or financial tools, ensuring the timely and optimal preparation of the investment portfolio.
