ADR Sud-Vest Oltenia and FNGCIMM have launched the SME SVO Guarantees financial instrument, with a budget exceeding 146 million EUR. Companies in the five counties can access guaranteed loans of up to 200,000 euros, combined with a grant component.
The instrument was launched on June 8, 2026, and is operated by the National Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, under code SMIS 365292. The total budget is 146,314,707.35 EUR, of which 124.37 million represents co-financing from the European Union.
The mechanism combines a portfolio guarantee with a grant component. Specifically, a company goes to a partner bank, requests a loan, and FNGCIMM guarantees a portion of the risk, which enables the bank to grant financing to a company that would otherwise have been rejected due to a lack of collateral. The guaranteed loans go up to 200,000 euros.
Eligible entities are micro-enterprises and SMEs from Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinți, Olt, and Vâlcea. There is no fixed-term call for projects: the instrument operates continuously until the guarantee ceiling is exhausted.
For entrepreneurs in Oltenia, this is a significant change in the landscape. Classic grant calls in the region for SMEs, micro-enterprises, and digitalization have been closed since 2024 and were not relaunched in 2026. This financial instrument remains, practically, the only accessible continuous source.
The difference from a grant must be clearly understood: the loan must be repaid, with interest. The advantage is access to financing and, in many cases, a better interest rate than a regular loan, plus the grant component that reduces the total cost.
To understand why the guarantee matters, the issue must be viewed from the bank's perspective. A small company without fixed assets to pledge as collateral is, from a risk analysis perspective, a client the bank cannot finance, regardless of the business quality. The public guarantee covers part of the potential loss, which transforms the file into an approvable one.
The grant component within the instrument's structure reduces the effective cost of financing, either by subsidizing the interest or by covering the guarantee fee. Entrepreneurs should ask the partner bank for a comparative calculation between the total cost of this product and that of a standard loan, as the difference can be significant over the entire duration of the loan.
Key Facts
- Budget: 146,314,707.35 EUR, of which 124.37 million EUR is EU co-financing
- Mechanism: portfolio guarantee plus grant. Guaranteed loans up to 200,000 EUR
- Eligible: micro and SMEs from Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinți, Olt, Vâlcea
- Access: continuous, through partner banks, until the ceiling is exhausted. OPEN
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