EUR 60 million top-up for the Cultural and Creative Sector Guarantee Facility
The Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility of the Creative Europe Programme received an additional EUR 60 million through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
To further strengthen the cultural and creative sector in Europe, the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility of the Creative Europe Programme received an additional EUR 60 million through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). With this top-up the size of the Guarantees Facility increases from EUR 121 million to EUR 181 million. It is expected this will generate more than EUR 1 billion in loans for thousands of cultural and creative SMEs.
The guarantees will allow banks and other financial institutions from an enlarged number of countries to significantly increase financing for projects in the cultural and creative sectors. Since this innovative financial instrument has been launched in July 2016, agreements with financial intermediaries have been signed in Spain, France and Romania, expecting to offer over EUR 230 million in loans for cultural and creative entreprizes. Following the top-up, four additional agreements will be signed with financial intermediaries from Czech Republic, Italy and Belgium.