The Government of the Azores and Millennium BCP signed today a protocol under the operation of the Support Scheme for Bank Microcredit in the Azores. This is the fifth institution with which the Government has signed a protocol for this purpose, which extends the range of choice for the beneficiaries of this support measure.

Created in the Azores in 2006, this support measure aims to facilitate the funding of small projects by leveraging the entrepreneurial potential and the willingness of people facing difficulties in terms of their economic and social integration. Moreover, it is also intended to support micro-entrepreneurs who are having difficulties in obtaining credit to finance small investments.

The Interest on loans granted by banks is fully settled by the Regional Government, which is an additional advantage of the Support Scheme for Bank Microcredit.

The current economic and financial context, the difficulties in the access to bank credit and unemployment have increased the need of reinforcing measures intended to promote self-employment or to support micro-companies that have no funds available to make investments and create more jobs.

Last year 14 new projects were approved under microcredit support measures. This figure is nearly the triple of that registered in 2012, when only five applications were approved.

The signing of this protocol is also the result of the increase in the guarantee provided by the Regional Government to banks from 25% to 75% in each loan. In addition, the protocol established with this banking institution will contribute to the dissemination of this measure as well as to the increase of applications to be approved during this year.