We have been saying for some time, even on these pages of FIRST online, that while interventions on medium-term export credits are well designed and actually help companies that have to grant payment extensions to foreign counterparties, much still needs to be done for a real support for foreign direct investment (FDI) of our companies, and in particular of SMEs.
Yesterday FIRST online published the announcement of the agreement signed between Simest, Abi and Arab Bank Union, on the basis of which a working group will shortly give life to the Mediterranean Partnership Fund, a fund of about 200 million dollars that Italy is creating with the collaboration of the countries concerned, the EIB (European Investment Bank), the Union of Arab Banks and other private entities. The objective of the Fund is to accompany the economic development of the Mediterranean area, through a maximum allocation of funds already set at 800 million dollars (about 584 million euros at current exchange rates). The Fund will act on four fronts: venture capital (i.e. entry into the capital of young high-tech companies to accompany their growth), guarantees to facilitate access to bank credit, funding aimed at SMEs in the area e assistance and advice.
This Fund could be the right tool to accompany our SMEs in their development on foreign markets, and to help local businesses move towards sustainable growth. Naturally everything will depend on the final result, and also on the requests that Italian SMEs and African companies will address to the Fund. However, there are some elements of optimism. First, the public-private partnership is a positive factor, because the presence of private banks will be able to direct public interventions towards projects that are actually profitable and capable of creating added value, while the presence of relevant public partners - such as the EIB and Simest - they will allow cost containment and control over the use of funds. Second, if indeed the intervention in companies with high growth potential takes the form of venture capital (i.e. risk capital), this will constitute an incentive for the creation of new companies, on both sides of the mare nostrum, more competitive and competitive; and let's face it, it will be a disincentive for all of our companies that go abroad thinking only of a relocation based on the simple search for low-wage work (a form of FDI increasingly out of history and the economy). Thirdly, tools such as guarantees and direct loans are increasingly essential to facilitate access to credit, especially in countries where the presence of our banks is limited or non-existent.
In essence, the experience of this Fund could constitute a test bed for the experimentation and launch of new forms of support for the FDI of our companies, perhaps towards new areas (for example the countries of the new Europe or Latin America) , and perhaps with the intervention of new partners (for example the Regions, in collaboration with Simest). The important thing is to keep two concepts in mind: on the side of public intervention, that projects must be looked at not with a bureaucratic eye, but with an entrepreneurial and development one; on the side of our businesses, that the time for incentives to rain is long over, and they must learn to take from the public sector what is most useful, such as assistance, risk coverage and easier access to credit .
22.09.11
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