At least 35 thousand small and medium enterprises (SME) in Russia will be able to get support under the "umbrella" mechanism of guarantees and attract more than 600 billion rubles by 2024, according to the government website.

"The umbrella mechanism will enable a whole segment of entrepreneurs who previously had no access to business loans to get borrowed funds, and will also reduce the final interest rates on the funding raised. In this case, the guarantee will provide up to 50% of the loan amount, and the entrepreneur will be able to get it instantly in "one window" of the bank without reference to the SME Corporation, as the entire document flow between the participants is digitalized," the statement said.

In addition, the guarantee fee will now be paid by the bank, not the entrepreneur. Thus, borrowers with an average risk will be able to increase the amount of funds raised through sureties and free up collateral, while low-risk borrowers will be able to obtain credit funds at a lower average rate of 1-2%.

It is specified that Otkrytie bank, Promsvyazbank, Russian national commercial bank, Sberbank, VTB and SME Bank became pilot participants of the selection. For partner banks the mandatory share of investment loans guaranteed by the SME Corporation will be not less than 20%. In addition, the banks are obliged to achieve coverage targets - the minimum number of SMEs that must obtain a guarantee.

The authorities estimate that under the pilot project by the end of 2021 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to raise additional 20 billion rubles of credit resources - with the guarantee support of the SME Corporation amounting to 8 billion rubles.

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