Romania's Ministry of Finance and the Investment and Development Bank (BID) announced a partnership to accelerate the launch of guarantee and financing products aimed at SMEs, local public authorities and public utility companies. The Ministry asked BID to speed up implementation so guarantee products become active as soon as possible, with the intended economic impact starting in 2026. For SMEs, a dedicated portfolio guarantee programme targets support for around 26,000 companies over the next three years via partner banks and non-bank financial institutions, with total financing estimated at around RON 12.6bn, including a RON 8.8bn guarantee component managed by BID. For local authorities and their subordinated companies, BID is implementing individual guarantees with an allocated three-year budget of RON 2.2bn and direct lending for public entities, including technical assistance supported by a European Investment Bank funding line. BID is also assessing multiple utility-sector applications and cited three projects exceeding RON 220m in guarantees and around RON 8m in direct lending, while EU-funded instruments include the Regional Participation Fund, which will deploy over EUR 233m to SMEs in the North-East, South-East and Bucharest-Ilfov regions through partner financial institutions, combining reduced-interest loans with a grant component of up to 40% of the financing value. BID is evaluating additional mandates linked to the Modernisation Fund, the Social Climate Fund and the Just Transition Fund, including support for electricity distribution investments, SME energy-efficiency and retooling, and subsidised loans with capital rebates. The Ministry and BID set operational next steps that include completing intermediary selections by end-2025 and launching partner transactions in November to December 2025 for SME and local authority products and in early 2026 for other instruments.

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