Ivanovic said the primary objective is to create new jobs, encourage production and work to substitute imported goods with domestic products.
“The minimum amount of the loan is one million USD, and the maximum is three million. The loan is given and returned in dollars, and all four firms received three million each. The funds can be withdrawn after providing adequate collateral”, he explained.
Interest rate per annum is 2.5 percent, the repayment period is 17 years, with a grace period of four years, reports Mina business.
“At this moment, we have 32 applicants but we had to reject more than a half, because these funds cannot be used to repay previous debts or to resolve liquidity issues, but only for development and new projects”, said Ivanovic.
The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Montenegro, Hafsa Al Ulama, who also attended the signing ceremony, said:
“This is evidence of strong ties between our two countries aimed at starting production in Montenegro. Support is focused on the northern part of Montenegro, creation of new jobs and improvement of the overall industry and agriculture”, she said.
At the end of August this year, in cooperation with the Development Fund of Abu Dhabi and Montenegrin Investment Development Fund (IDF), the Ministry issued a public call for financing development projects in agriculture, worth $ 50 million. With the support of the IDF and the Development Fund of Abu Dhabi, the Ministry has launched a project called Abu Dhabi Support for development of agriculture in Montenegro (ADMAS), whose aim is to increase standards of production and processing, strengthening competitiveness and contributing to the sustainable use of natural resources and improvement of living standards in rural areas.
