Within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the central administration responsible for the implementation of measure M1C2.I5 ‘Refinancing and redefinition of Fund 394/81 managed by SIMEST’, which provided for the granting of subsidised loans to Italian enterprises operating in foreign markets.
By the end of the third quarter (Q3, 30 September 2021), the Foreign Ministry achieved the milestones envisaged by the NRRP:
- entry into force of the refinancing of the grants and loans component of Fund 394/81;
- adoption of an investment policy by the Fund’s Board of Directors (the Facilities Committee, an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Director General for the Promotion of the Country System).
The first milestone was achieved with the adoption of Decree-Law No. 121 of 10 September 2021, setting forth “Urgent Provisions on Investment and Safety in Infrastructure, Transport and Road Traffic, for the Functionality of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, the Higher Council for Public Works and the National Agency for Road and Motorway Infrastructure Safety”, published in the Official Journal No. 217 of 10 September 2021.
Article 11 of the Decree laid down that, for the implementation of the above-mentioned project line, a ‘Loan Section’ and a ‘Grant Section’ were established within the Fund No. 394. The two sections have a financial endowment of 800 and 400 million Euros, respectively.
The second milestone was reached on 30 September 2021, with the adoption of the “Framework Resolution of the Facilities Committee adopting the investment policy and the related Operating Circulars”, measures that redefined the instruments of Fund No. 394.
The measure set the target of providing financial support to at least 4,000 exporting SMEs by 31 December 2021.
The three instruments available for small and medium-sized enterprises were the following:
- Digital and ecological transition of SMEs with an international vocation. Concessionary financing for investment aimed at fostering the digital transition of SMEs, promoting their sustainable growth and strengthening their competitiveness in foreign markets. The maximum amount that may be requested is EUR 300,000 (SACE – SIMEST Transizione Digitale ed Ecologica);
- Development of SMEs’ e-commerce in foreign countries (E-commerce). Concessionary financing for creating an e-commerce platform for the marketing in foreign countries of goods or services produced in Italy or under the Italian brand name. The facility is intended for the implementation of a digital investment project, which may be the creation of a new own platform, the improvement of an already existing platform, or access to a third-party space (e.g. market place). The maximum amount that can be requested is EUR 300,000 for an own platform and EUR 200,000 for a third-party platform (SACE – SIMEST Partecipazione delle PMI a fiere e mostre internazionali, anche in Italia, e missioni di sistema);
- SME participation in international fairs and exhibitions – also in Italy – and system missions. Concessionary financing to support participation – also in Italy – in a single event, even virtual, of an international nature and with an ecological or digital profile (including a fair, an exhibition, a business mission or system mission) for the promotion of goods and/or services produced in Italy or under the Italian brand name. The maximum amount that can be requested is EUR 150,000 (SACE – SIMEST Sviluppo del commercio elettronico delle PMI).
For all measures, each SME could apply for a non-repayable co-financing share of the loan request:
- up to 40% of the total loan amount if the applicant has its operational headquarters in a different region of Southern Italy; dell’importo complessivo del finanziamento se la richiedente ha sede operativa in una regione del Sud Italia;
- up to 25% of the total financing amount if the applicant has its operational headquarters in a different region.
40% of the total available resources were reserved for SMEs in Southern Italy (“Southern Reserve”).
On 29 December 2021, the Facilities Committee approved the granting of loans to 5,212 SMEs, for a total value of about EUR 751 million, allowing the PNRR target to be reached by the deadline.
Considering the additional availability of financial resources, on 31 March 2022, the Facilities Committee extended access to the “Digital and Green Transition” facility also to Mid Cap (companies not qualifying as SMEs and with up to 1,500 employees), raising the maximum amount that could be requested to EUR 1 million. Under these new terms and conditions, the SIMEST portal dedicated to receiving financing applications was closed on 3 May 2022 due to the depletion of NRRP resources.
Particularly positive was the response from Southern companies, which, with EUR 500 million in funds requested, made it possible to exhaust the “Southern Reserve”, equal to 40% of the resources of the NRRP measure (EUR 480 million out of a total of EUR 1.2 billion). This is a very satisfactory result, and by no means taken for granted, considering that, traditionally, Southern companies’ access to Fund No. the 394/81 has never exceeded 10%.
On 30 June 2022, the Facilities Committee approved the last operations using NRRP resources, bringing the total number of loans granted to 8,544.
The management of the measure by the Foreign Ministry and SIMEST was the subject of a series of in-depth audits by the Italian and European supervisory authorities, carried out by the NRRP’s Independent Audit Body, established at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, by the Court of Auditors, and by the European Commission.