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 2011

The European Progress Microfinance Facility for employment and social inclusion was established in March 2010 by Decision No 283/2010/EU.

Microcredit providers in EU Member States can apply to the European Investment Fund (EIF) for guarantees or funded instruments (debt, equity and risk-sharing instruments), so they can become intermediaries under Progress Microfinance. They provide microloans (loans of less than €25,000) to micro-enterprises or individuals, particularly to people who are unemployed, at risk of losing their jobs, at risk of being socially excluded or otherwise at a disadvantage when it comes to securing a traditional loan. The aim of the microloans must be to establish and/or develop micro-enterprises.

For the period 2010–13, the European Union makes available €103m for Progress Microfinance, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) has committed itself to adding another €100m for funded instruments. The total of €203m is divided between the two windows as follows: €25m for guarantees and €178m for funded instruments. Progress Microfinance is implemented by the EIF on behalf of the Commission and the EIB.

2011 was the Progress Microfinance Facility’s first full year of operation. In line with Article 8 of the Decision, this report covers implementation at the level of microcredit providers, including contracts concluded with the EIF, geographical distribution, actions funded and applications accepted and rejected. The second part of the report analyses the impact at micro-borrower level, including the types of beneficiaries and distribution per sector, based on the data available at this stage. The last sections look at complementarity between Progress Microfinance and other instruments and the outlook with regard to future developments.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)391: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:391:FIN

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