Business Forum • 26 June, 2026 at 5:00 PM
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, Romanian measures for the national investment and development bank Banca de Investiții și Dezvoltare (BID).
In January 2023, the Commission approved a Romanian measure to set up BID with an initial capital of €1.6 billion. The measures approved consist of a capital increase of €1 billion, partly funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as well as a three-year extension of the state guarantee backing BID's operations, which would have expired in 2028, now running until 31 December 2032. The Commission has also approved an extension of the bank's activities beyond those authorised in 2023.
The capital increase will include a contribution of €100 million financed through an RRF loan. The state guarantee will continue to support BID's ability to mobilise financing for projects and beneficiaries facing difficulties in accessing market funding, such as innovative SMEs and start-ups with limited collateral, as well as public infrastructure projects in health, education, public utilities and renewable energy. The broadened mandate will allow BID to expand its activities to support scale-up companies and projects in strategic sectors, including defence, high-tech manufacturing, knowledge-intensive industries and cybersecurity.
BID's financing activities will be subject to mechanisms designed to prevent the crowding out of private investors where market financing is available. The financial institution was set up in 2022 to complement commercial banks, promote economic development and help undertakings that struggle to obtain funding.