CITY OF NIS LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MEASURES FOR 2018

The City of Nis, on the basis of the Local Economic Development Program, implemented by the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects, announced measures aimed at subsidizing and assisting micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs registered in the territory of the City of Nis. For these purposes, from the Budget of the City of Nis for the year 2018, about 40 million dinars have been allocated, which is a significant increase in relation to 18 million, which the city allocated last year, when these measures were applied for the first time, as it was said by Mihajlo Zdravkovic, the Member of Nis City Council in charge of economic issues at the press conference held at Nis City Hall.  He emphasized that the goal was to double the amount of funds, reaching the number of about 500 business entities from the territory of the City of Nis, which would be granted some kind of assistance.

The city has launched two public calls. The first is a public invitation to banks interested in short-term lending to commercial entities from the territory of Nis with the participation of the city in subsidizing interest rates on loans. Credit beneficiaries may be micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs with regular business operations and which are registered in the territory of the City of Nis. The City of Nis will subsidize interest on loans for the purchase of fixed assets purchasing machinery and equipment, modernization of the production process, stabilization of production, investment in new modern means of labor and production for the purpose of developing entrepreneurship, construction, reconstruction and adaptation of business premises and new employment. The funds with which the City of Nis will subsidize the interest on approved loans amount to 9,362,409.00 dinars. The measure is implemented as a state aid of low value (de minimis state aid), and these funds will include twice as many micro, small and medium enterprises from the territory of Nis compared to the numbers last year. The second call refers to granting of incentives for Measures of Internationalization and Competitiveness. The priority should be given to the companies in the field of information technologies – IT, electronics, mechanical engineering, logistics, food processing and textile industries. All measures are implemented as low-value state aid (de minimis state aid).

Public call refers to measures classified into five groups:

1. Internationalization is assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs to cover part of justified costs without VAT, for organized or individual performances at fairs or trade fairs, with a limit of up to 100.000,00 dinars per economic subject. The total planned amount of funds for these purposes is 3,000,000.00 dinars.
2. Internationalization of associations and economic associations – The measure of internationalization is also implemented as assistance to associations and economic associations, which organize international manifestations of economic and tourism character or group visits to events abroad, which promote the city’s economic and tourism potentials, to cover the part of justified costs excluding VAT, with a limit of up to 1,000,000 dinars per user. The total planned amount of funds for these purposes is 4,000,000.00 dinars
3. Improvement of the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs through the co-financing costs VAT excluded for the service providers for the following activities: operating business in accordance with the requirements of international business standards (standard implementation, certification, ) and labeling the product with “CE” mark; market research, necessary for the introduction of a new or existing product in the new market; testing new products; new design of products and packaging; improving existing and developing new products/services; electronic presentation of the company. Funds are allocated to cover up to 50% of eligible costs excluding VAT with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per business entity. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 10,000,000.00 dinars.
4. Improving the competitiveness of the companies using the Startup center and Coworking space by co-financing the costs without VAT for the following activities: operating business in accordance with the requirements of international standards business (standard implementation, certification, recertification) and labeling the product with “CE” mark; market research, necessary for the introduction of a new or existing product in the new market; testing new products; new design of products and packaging; improving existing and developing new products/services; electronic presentation of the company. Funds are allocated to cover up to 50% of eligible costs excluding VAT with a limit of up to 300,000.00 dinars per user. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 5,000,000.00 dinars.
5. Improving cooperation between the economy and scientific and educational institution by the funds allocated in order to connect the economy, education and scientific and educational institutions directly, to establish dual education and to improve production processes and procedures through the implementation of scientific achievements and the improvement of scientific education processes. Projects will be supported up to 1,000,000 dinars per project, in which at least three companies and one scientifically accredited institution will take part together. The total planned amount of funds for this purpose is 6,000,000.00 dinars.

Deadline for submission of applications is 01/10/2018. The first opening of the received applications will be 15 days after the announcement of the Public Invitation, and then, every 15 days the decisions will be successively made until the expiration of the deadline on 01/10/2018 or until the exhaustion of the funds. Information about these public calls can be found on the site of the City of Nis (www.gu.ni.rs) and on the website of the Office for Local Economic Development and Projects (www.investnis.rs).