THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMISSION relative to the implementation of the Decision regarding the provision of Community interest subsidies on loans for small medium-sized enterprises extended by the European Investment Bank under its temporary lending facility (the SME Facility)
Date: 1996-10-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EIB loan, interest rate subsidy, investment project, job creation, small and medium-sized enterprises

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  25.10.1996 
COM(96)  522  final 

THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMISSION 

relative to the implementation  of the Decision  regarding 
the provision of Community interest  subsidies 
on loans for  small and medium-sized  enterprises 
extended  by the European Investment  Bank under its temporary lending facility 
(the SME Facility) 

SUMMARY 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

2.  LEGAL FRAMEWORK 

3.  DESCRIPTION OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THE SME FACILITY 

EIB global loans 
3.1. 
The role of national agents 
3.2. 
Agreements with intermediaries and agents 
3.3. 
Characteristics of the subsidized SME loans 
3.4 
Characteristics of the subsidy 
3.5. 
Incentives for early j ob creation 
3.6. 
Improving the take-up of loans 
3.7. 
Priority for small SMEs 
3.8 
State aid rules 
3.9. 
3.10.  Control and supervision 
3.11. 

Promotion of the SME Facility 

4. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

4.1. 
4.2. 
4.3. 

Planned job creation 
Take-up of loans from the Facility 
Priority for small SMEs 

5.  BUDGETARY ASPECTS 

ANNEXES : 5 

z 

I. 

INTRODUCTION 

The present report has been established in the framework of Council decision 94/217/EC of 19 
April  1994 0), relative to the provision of Community interest subsidies on loans for  small and 
medium-sized  enterprises  extended  by  the  European  Investment  Bank  under  its  temporary 
lending facility (the SME Facility).  The report constitutes an update of the second  one, which 
was made available by the Commission on 30 October  1995 (COM(95)485).  The next report 
(i.e.  the  fourth  one)  will  also  be  the final one,  as  the  Bank  expects  to finalize all  subsidy 
disbursements by the end of 1997.  The Commission intends to issue this final report as soon as 
all  the  statistical  information  on  this  final  phase  of  the  life  of  the  SME  Facility  has  been 
collected, and ideally before the end of 1997. 

The  SME  facility  was  established  at  the  Copenhagen  European  Council  (21-22  June  1993), 
which  invited  the  EIB  to  increase  the  size  of its temporary  lending  facility  by  3 bn  Ecu,  of 
which  1 bn Ecu would  be  allocated  to  the  strengthening  of the  competitiveness  of European 
small and medium-sized  enterprises.  The Ecofin  Council was invited to examine how the part 
of  appropriations  available  for  SMEs  could  benefit  from  interest  rate  subsidies  linked  to 
employment creation. 

On 4 July  1996, the European Parliament adopted a report on the Commission's second  report 
on the SME Facility (1484/140147/96; rapporteur: Mrs Ewing), containing a resolution  on this 
report,  as well  as  a number  of recommendations  and  requests  for  clarification.  The  present 
report  will provide further  comments  on the various points raised  in the Ewing  report,  while 
some of the points will be dealt with more extensively in the next report,  particularly the ones 
requiring  further  investigation.  Parliament's  suggestions  will  also  be  integrated  in  the 
preparation of the ELISE scheme'2*, which favours investment and job creation by small firms 
through the extension of loan guarantees. 

2.  LEGAL FRAMEWORK 

Following the introduction of a legislative proposal by the Commission (3), and the opinion of 
Parliament  of  24  February  1994  (4),  the  legal  base  for  extending  Community  subsidies  was 
enacted  by the  Council  on  19 April  1994.  This Decision  specifies  that  the  interest  subsidies 
shall be: 

linked to Ecu  1000 million of EIB loans to SMEs in the Community; 
restricted to investment projects involving the creation of employment; 

-  fixed  at 200 basis points (2 %); 

extended for a period of 5 years to the beneficiaries of the loans. 

(1)  O.J. L107 of 28.04.94, p. 57.  Article 3 of the Decision specifies that the Commission shall send 
to the European Parliament  and the Council a yearly report evaluating the implementation  of the 
Decision. 
O.J. C 146 of 21.05.96, p. 6. 
COM(93)332  of  9.07.93,  subsequently  amended  by  COM(93)577  of  16.11.93  (O.J.  C10  of 
14.01.94, p.13). 
(4>  O.J. C114 of 25.04.94. 

!! 

3 

The decision  also indicates that the facility  shall be administered  by the EIB  on behalf  of the 
Community  and  that  the  detailed  arrangements  for  implementing  the  interest  subsidy 
mechanism  shall  be  laid  down  in  a cooperation  agreement  between  the  Commission  and  the 
EIB.  This agreement was signed in Luxembourg  on  14 June  1994.  The EIB  has proceeded 
rapidly  with  the  operational  setting  up  of  the  SME  Facility,  through  defining  detailed 
procedures  for  its  network  of  participating  global  loan  intermediaries  and  reinforcing  it  by 
nomination  of national  agents (cf.  3.1  and 3.2).  In December  1994, the Commission  and the 
Bank  agreed  the  modalities  for  the  enlargement  of the  SME Facility  to  enterprises  from  the 
three acceding Member  States (Austria,  Sweden, Finland) from 1 January  1995  onwards.  In 
July  1995, the Commission and the Bank also agreed to extend the Facility to the end of 1995 
and to include specific provisions regarding the re-allocation of unused shares. 

3.  DESCRIPTION OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THE SME FACILITY 

3.1. 

EIB global loans 

The largest  part  of EIB lending (75.5  % of operations within the Union in  1995) to  projects 
takes the form of direct loans, whereby loan applications are appraised by the Bank's own staff. 
Direct lending is generally practiced for operations exceeding a certain size (e.g.  infrastructure 
or larger industrial projects). 

For  smaller  loans,  and  SME  loans  in  particular,  the  Bank  has  recourse  to  global  lending 
procedures,  whereby  framework  agreements  are  signed  with  various financial intermediaries 
operating  in  the  Member  States.  These  intermediaries  are  then  entitled  to  draw  upon  EIB 
resources up to certain ceilings for the purpose of extending subloans to projects which are in 
conformity  with the rules and conditions laid down in the framework agreement.  The financial 
intermediaries  carry  out the project  appraisal  (subject  to  criteria previously  agreed  upon with 
the Bank and to  subsequent EIB approval) and handle all relations with the beneficiaries.  The 
intermediaries are furthermore  responsible vis-à-vis the Bank for the full  and timely repayment 
of the global  resources  on-lent to the final beneficiaries.  In the  context  of the  SME Facility, 
the role of the financial intermediaries is largely comparable as they have assessed all individual 
applications and have decided whether they were eligible for subloans. 

3.2. 

The role of national agents 

In most Member States, the management of the interest subsidies has been entrusted to a single 
national  agent  per  country.  These  agents  act  under  the  Bank's  supervision  and  process  all 
requests  for  subsidies within  a  single  country; the final beneficiaries  however  have  no  direct 
contacts  or  links with the  agent  in question  as the latter  receive all the  necessary  information 
through the financial intermediaries.  In some countries, the agent can also be an intermediary. 

The  agents  ensure  that  approved  applications  for  subsidies  are  registered  and  processed  in 
sequence on a "first come, first served" basis.  They are also responsible for the processing and 
verification  of  the  evidence  which  the  beneficiaries  are  invited  to  submit  in  relation  to 
employment creation, as well as for the actual payment (and whenever needed the recovery) of 
the subsidy.  The agents therefore  play an important role in ensuring that potential  and  actual 
beneficiaries  are treated  in a uniform  way and that  all administrative procedures linked to  the 
verification  and payment of the subsidy requests are handled in a timely and consistent manner. 

M 

3.3. 

Agreements with intermediaries and agents 

As soon as the legal framework  for extending Community subsidies was in place, the Bank has 
started signing the necessary agreements with financial intermediaries during the second half of 
1994,  either  by  amending  global  lending  arrangements  which  were  already  in  existence  or 
otherwise by signing new agreements. 

The  Bank  has  appointed  the  national  agent  for  each  Member  State  after  consultation  with 
national  authorities.  Where no agent has been appointed  (as is the case in Ireland), the Bank 
assumes this role.  The list of agents and intermediaries is provided in annex  1.  Each agent has 
been  assigned  an  initial  share  of  the  total  facility  so  as  to  allow  him  to  start  operations;  a 
subsequent  (and final) allocation has been assigned in the course of April  1995 on the basis of 
the actual commitments on the first tranche.  As agreed between the Commission and the EIB 
in July  1995, the uncommitted  balance of the Facility, which only amounted  to  1.65  % of its 
total  size, was redistributed  on  15 December  1995 in favour  of applicants  on the reserve list. 
The SME Facility was thus fully taken up by the end of 1995. 

3.4. 

Characteristics of the subsidized  SME loans 

The  subsidized  subloans  (SME  loans)  extended  by  the  financial  intermediaries  to  the 
beneficiaries  are limited  to  30.000 Ecu times the number of jobs created.  If the  loan  request 
exceeds this maximum amount  (e.g. if 200.000  Ecus  of loans are  applied  for  but  only  5 new 
jobs  are  created),  the  loan  amount  additional  to  the  ceiling  imposed  by  the  number  of jobs 
created (50.000 Ecus) is unsubsidized. 

Inversely,  if  the  loan  amount  is  smaller  than  the  maximum  amount  (e.g.  if  the  size  of  the 
investments is limited to  100.000 Ecu, although 5 additional jobs would allow for a loan size of 
up to  150.000 Ecus), the total amount of subsidies will always be limited to  10 % of the size of 
the loan.  This explains why the average loan size per job is smaller than 30.000 Ecus in certain 
countries (cf. annex 3). 

Subsidized loans have a maturity of at least 5 years; voluntary repayment is not allowed during 
the first 5 years (except upon repayment  of the subsidy).  The loans cannot be combined with 
other  loans at reduced  rates offered  by the EIB under  other  agreements  or with ECSC loans. 
No restriction  is imposed on the loan currency or on the repayment  characteristics  (repayment 
schedule, grace period,  ...).  Loans can be either fixed or floating rate. 

3.5. 

Characteristics of the subsidy 

The Council Decision sets the subsidy rate at two percentage points.  As the loans allocations 
to  SMEs  can  be  expressed  in  various  currencies  and  as  the  loans  can  also  have  different 
repayment  schedules  (depending  on  the  maturity,  the  length  of  the  grace  period,  etc.),  the 
actual value of the  subsidy  could  differ  between beneficiaries,  even for  an identical  loan size. 
In order to ensure fair and similar treatment of all beneficiaries, the interest subsidy is therefore 
calculated  and paid on the basis of a notional 5 year bullet loan in Ecu.  For this type of loan, 
an interest subsidy of 2 % per annum for a total of 5 years corresponds in total to  10 % of the 
SME loan amount (i.e. up to 3.000 Ecus per job). 

r 

3.6. 

Incentives for early job creation 

In  view  of  the  objectives  of  the  SME  Facility  (employment  creation,  sustainment  of  growth 
through productive investment),  special incentives are offered to applicants so as to  encourage 
early  job  creation  and  rapid  execution  of  investment  plans.  Firstly,  the  applications  for 
subsidized loans from the  SME Facility must be received until a certain deadline  date  (initially 
set  at  31  July  1995,  subsequently  postponed  to  15  December  1995).  In  addition,  the  total 
amount  of  interest  subsidies  (i.e.  up  to  3000  Ecus  per  extra job)  is  made  available  to  the 
beneficiaries  in a single payment,  as soon as the following  conditions relating to the investment 
and the creation of jobs have been met: 

the SME loan has been effectively  disbursed; 
the first interest payment has come due; 
the new jobs have been in place for at least 6 continuous months; 
the  evidence  relative  to  these  conditions  has  been  presented  to  the  national  agent 
(through the intermediary). 

While  applicants  have  a  clear  incentive  to  go  ahead  as  soon  as  possible  with  their  planned 
recruitments,  experience  shows  that  the  creation  of  new  employment  may  take  considerable 
time  (e.g.  because  the  jobs  are  linked  to  the  implementation  of  an  extensive  investment 
programme).  Applicants  have  therefore  some  flexibility  regarding  the  timing  for  introducing 
their requests for the  subsidy.  In any event, jobs  must be  created  no  later than 31  December 
1996, and requests for subsidy payment must be submitted by the beneficiaries  no later than 30 
June 1997. 

Applicants  creating  less jobs  than originally  applied for (i.e.  less than the number stated  in the 
loan  application),  only  receive  subsidies  for  the jobs  effectively  created.  In the  opposite  case 
(more  jobs  created  than  originally  envisaged),  the  subsidies  are  only  paid  in  relation  to  the 
number of jobs indicated in the application. 

3.7 

Improving the take-up of loans 

In order to avoid that subsidies available under the present mechanism are ineffectively  or only 
partially  used,  two  specific  provisions  exist  as  regards  the  re-allocation  of  unused  credits. 
Each of these redistribution mechanisms is based on the reserve lists, which national agents are 
allowed to constitute if strong demand exists in their country for loans from the Facility. 

A  first  re-allocation  mechanism  has  operated  across  countries  and  has  allowed  for  the 
apportioning  of  any  indicative  shares  which  were  still  unallocated  by  15  December  1995  in 
favour  of  applicants  on the  reserve  lists  (cf.  section  3.3  above).  This  one-time  redistribution 
has occured  on the basis and in the sequence of the dated application record maintained by the 
national agents. 

The  second  type  of  re-allocation  takes  place  on  a  continuous  basis  and  exclusively  among 
applicants within the  same  country.  Applicants  on the  reserve  list,  who  have  satisfied  all  the 
necessary  conditions regarding job creation, hereby gain the possibility to receive the  subsidies 
which  had  initially  been  set  aside  for  other  applicants,  in particular when  the  latter  appear  to 

€ 

have overestimated  the number of jobs which they would be able to create within the imposed 
time frame.  This re-allocation process will be completed by the end of September  1997. 

3.8. 

Priority for small SMEs 

The EIB's customary global lending arrangements with its financial intermediaries define  SMEs 
as enterprises with net fixed assets not exceeding 75 Mecus, less than 500 employees and not 
more  than  one  third  of  the  equity  owned  by  a  company  which  is  not  an  SME. 
In  the 
framework of the  SME facility,  the agents  and intermediaries  have been asked  to  put  special 
emphasis  on  smaller  enterprises,  particularly  the  ones  having  not  more  than  250  employees, 
and either a turnover not exceeding 20 Mecus or total assets not exceeding  10 Mecus. 

In  order  to  favour  these  smaller  enterprises,  at  least  60 %  of the  number  of beneficiaries  of 
subsidized loans should belong to this category of enterprises.  In addition, the size of the SME 
loans to enterprises of this category is unrestricted,  while subsidized loans to larger  SMEs are 
limited to 810.000 Ecus (corresponding to the creation of 27 jobs). 

3.9. 

State aid rules 

The  SME  Facility  is  compatible  with  state  aid  rules  applying  in  the  Member  States  and 
complies with the Community rules for  accelerated  clearance  (1), which  specify  limitations on 
the amount  of aid which  can be granted,  notably in relation to the total  size of the investment 
cost,  the  amount  of aid  per job  created,  etc.  In view of the relatively  limited  amounts  of aid 
granted, administrative controls in relation to state aid can thus be kept to a strict minimum. 

3.10. 

Control and supervision 

The agents verify  the entitlement  of each beneficiary  to  its respective  subsidy  on the basis of 
the  declarations  made  by  intermediaries  and  beneficiaries  and  agreement  of  the  EIB  that  its 
criteria are satisfied.  In addition, besides the usual monitoring of its global loans, the Bank will 
also carry out sample checks on the documentary evidence presented in relation to the requests 
In  the  event  that  documents  presented  or  statements  made  by  a 
for  subsidy  payments. 
beneficiary  are  materially  incorrect  or  misleading,  particularly  in  connection  with  elements 
allowing  the  verification  of  employment  creation,  the  payment  of  subsidies  will  be  cancelled 
and the beneficiary  will be required  to repay to the intermediary  institution the corresponding 
amounts  received.  The  Bank  has  made  appropriate  arrangements  with  the  agents  and 
intermediaries to allow the Court of Auditors to exercise its mission and to verify the regularity 
of the interest subsidy payments. 

3.11. 

Promotion of the SME Facility 

The promotion and success of the  SME Facility depends to  a considerable extent  on the wide 
availability  of information  about  the existence  and operation  of the  SME Facility,  particularly 
among potential beneficiaries. 

The Commission and the EIB have devoted  special attention to this aspect  and have prepared 
an  information  brochure,  summarizing  the  purpose  and  operation  of  the  interest  subsidy 
mechanism,  as  well  as  the  list  of  intermediaries  to  whom  applications  should  be  addressed. 

0)  Communication  to  the  Member  States  on the  accelerated  clearance  of  aid  schemes  for  SMEs 
and of amendments of existing schemes (92/C213/03 of 02.07.92); O.J. C213 of 19.08.92, p.10. 

The  brochure  is  available  in  all  Community  languages  and  has  been  distributed  through  the 
network  of financial intermediaries  taking part  in the mechanism.  In addition,  the Euro  Info 
Centres have been invited to play an active role in disseminating information  about the Facility 
and the modalities for taking part in it. 

4. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

4.1 

Planned j ob creation 

The impact  of the  SME Facility  on the creation  of additional  employment  has been  carefully 
monitored.  As  the  beneficiaries  are  entitled  to  receive  30.000  Ecus  of  subsidized  loans  for 
every  new job  created,  and  as the total volume of EIB loans from the Facility  amounts  to  1 
billion Ecus, the SME Facility will thus support the creation of at least 33.333 jobs. 

The statistical information on planned job creation indicates that this objective has already been 
largely  exceeded  at this  stage  as the total  for  the Union currently  amounts to  around  45.500 
jobs  (corresponding  to  Ecu  1 billion  of  loan  commitments).  The  number  of jobs  which  are 
planned to be created  in each Member  State are provided  in annex 2, while annex 3 provides 
the average loan amount per additional job. 

In  setting  the  various  eligibility  conditions,  notably  the  ones  on  employment  creation,  the 
Commission  and  the  Bank  have  attempted  to  strike  the  right  balance  between  the  need  to 
ensure  genuine  added  value  (in  terms  of  extra  jobs,  investment  generation,  etc.)  and  the 
aspiration to avoid excessive red tape and administrative burden for the beneficiary  enterprises. 
This implies the balancing of sometimes conflicting  objectives,  such as the additionally of the 
extra jobs,  and  their  structural  or  permanent  nature.  In  addition,  excessive  conditionality  as 
regards the new jobs created has been avoided as this typically runs against broader  economic 
policy objectives (such as the need to maintain a sufficient  degree of labour market  flexibility) 
and  as the  permanency  of jobs  cannot  be fully  controlled  by the beneficiary  enterprises  (e.g. 
voluntary departures). 

It should be kept in mind that, besides encouraging the creation of additional employment, the 
SME  Facility  has  also  attempted  to  further  and  accelerate  productive  investment,  hence 
stimulating the competitiveness  of SMEs and overall economic growth.  The total  volume of 
additional investment associated with the Facility is estimated at 4 billion Ecu. 

In  some  countries  jobs  have  been  created  with  a  lower  average  loan  size  than  in  other 
countries.  Here  it  is  important  to  note  that  capital  intensity  is  not  the  same  throughout 
industries  and  throughout  the  Community.  Extra  employment  in  the  service  industry  for 
instance  can  be  created  with  a  much  lower  investment  size  than  a job  in  a  capital-intense 
manufacturing  enterprise.  As on average  the  loan  size per job  turned  out  to be  lower  than 
foreseen,  more jobs could be created than was originally anticipated. 

4.2. 

Take-up of loans from the Facility 

The  loan  allocation  profile  in  each  individual  Member  State  is  provided  in  annex  4.  The 
amount of allocated loans is indicated in black, while the size of the reserve lists is indicated in 
grey. 

As the Facility  has been  fully  used  up, the total  volume of allocated  loans  amounts to  1.000 
Mecu.  The cumulative reserve list exceeds 436 Mecu. 

The  take-up  of  loans  from  the  SME  Facility  has  been  satisfactory  in  the  large  majority  of 
Member  States.  Relative  differences  can possibly  be explained  by  the  availability  in  some 
countries  of  other  sources  of  public  support  (from  regional,  national  or  Community  levels) 
at more attractive terms.  In addition,  the structure of the banking  system  in each  individual 
country  could  have  influenced  the  absorption  capacity,  as  some  countries  have  established 
specialized  institutions  for  channelling  public  aid  to  enterprises.  Finally,  the  number  and 
type of  intermediaries  in each country could also have played a role. 

As  far  as  the  sectoral  breakdown  of  loan  allocation  is  concerned,  only  preliminary  figures 
exist,  the  majority  part  of  operations  being  in  the  secondary  (71%)  and  tertiary  sectors 
(28%)  of  the  economies.  The  most  prominent  sector  metalworking  and  mechanical 
engineering  accounted  for  about  20  %,  followed  by  private  and  public-sector  services  for 
19%.  Major  other  sectors  (5  -  7  %  each)  were  foodstuffs,  commerce,  woodworking, 
rubber and plastics processing,  as well as paper/pulp and printing. 

4.3 

Priority for small SMEs 

Annex  5 illustrates  that  financial  intermediaries  in  each Member  State  have largely  exceeded 
the requirement  to  allocate  at least  60 % of all loans to  small SMEs.  The average figure  for 
the Union amounts to  about  95 %, while 80 % have been committed  to  enterprises  with  less 
than 50 employees. 

5.  BUDGETARY ASPECTS 

Budgetary  appropriations  in  relation  to  the  payment  of  interest  subsidies  amounted  to  65.5 
Mecus  for  1994,  of  which  45.5  Mecu  were  transferred  to  the  Bank  in  mid-1994  and  the 
remaining 20 Mecu at the end of  1994 following  budgetary transfers  decided  by Parliament  at 
the  end  of the  exercise.  The  amount  proposed  by the  Commission  in the  1995  Preliminary 
Draft Budget (22.75 Mecu) was reduced correspondingly, and credits amounting to 2.75 Mecu 
have been approved for the  1995 budget (and paid out in early 1995).  The budgetary authority 
approved  an amount of 57.75 Mecu under budget line B5-322 "Employment  and Growth"  for 
1996.  7.75 Mecu for interest subsidies was paid out in early  1996. It is estimated that a further 
18 Mecu  is needed  to  fully  cover  the  cost  of the Facility; this amount  will most  probably  be 
paid  out  during the last quarter  of  1996.  In terms of disbursements to  the beneficiaries,  31.6 
Mecu has been paid out by the Bank as of the end of August 1996. 

All financial resources  entrusted  to the EIB for  the payment  of interest  subsidies are credited 
on  a special  Community  account  within the Bank;  interest  earned  on the  account  is credited 
monthly.  As  of  the  end  of  August  1996,  the  amount  of  accrued  interest  generated  on  the 
Community account within the EIB exceeded 7 Mecu.  Any amount outstanding at the time of 
termination of the SME facility will be repaid to the Community budget. 

9 

ANNEX  1 

IMPLEMENTATION  OF THE SME  FACILITY  IN EACH  MEMBER  STATE 
(Situation as of September 1995) 

Member State 

Agent 

Intermediaries 

Austria 

Belgium 

Denmark 

Germany 

Greece 

Spain 

France 

Ireland 

Italy 

Luxembourg 

Netherlands 

Portugal 

Sweden 
Finland 
United Kingdom 

BÛRGES 

INVESTKREDIT 

SNCI/NMKN 

FIH 

KfW 

SNCI plus other EIB global loan 
intermediaries through SNCI 
FIH 

Whole banking system through KfW 

Ministry for the 

All global loan intermediaries 

National Economy 

ICO 

CDC 

EIB 

MCC 

SNCI 

MB 

IAPMEI 

SËK 
KERA 
Barclays 

Whole banking system through ICO 

BFCM, CCCC, CCBP, CFD, CNCA, 
CNCM, CMB, CBG-PARIBAS, CCF 

ICC and AIB 

All global loan intermediaries 

SNCI 

NIB, ING, ABN AMRO 

All global loan intermediaries 

SËÏC 
KERA 
Barclays, Barclays MBF, Midland, Royscot 
Trust, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank 
Scotland, Clydesdale, Northern Bank 

^o 

ANNEX 2 

PLANNED  JOB  CREATION 
(Situation  as of  31 July  1996; in units) 

A  1 

AVERAGE  LOAN  SIZE  PER JOB  CREATED 
(Situation  as of  31 July  1996; in  Ecus) 

ANNEX  3 

•\t 

LOAN  ALLOCATION 
(Situation  as of 31 July  1996;  in A4 ecus) 

ANNEX 4 

— 

£ 

0) 

I 

cc  O 
• 
0 

I  i 

ANNEX 5 

PERCENTAGE  OF SMALL  SMEs 
(Situation as of 31 July 1996; in percent) 

"W 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(96) 522 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

08 

Catalogue number  :  CB-CO-96-527-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-10411-6 

Office for Official  Publications of the European Communities 

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if