Entrepreneurs fail to benefit from EU fund

The Progress Microfinance facility, a €200m European Union fund designed to stimulate lending to entrepreneurs, has resulted in less than €8m in loans in the more than two years after it was first unveiled, Financial Times research has shown in 2011.

The PMF was presented in spring 2009 as the EU’s answer to banks’ unwillingness to lend to the 'real economy' at the height of the financial crisis.

ESO: Background information: Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Implementation of the European Progress Microfinance Facility - 2010 http://www.europeansources.info/record/report-from-the-commission-to-the-european-parliament-the-council-the-european-economic-and-social-committee-and-the-committee-of-the-regions-implementation-of-the-european-progress-microfinance-f/

European Commission: DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion: Progress Microfinance http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=836

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