OTP Bank Romania is one of the partner financial institutions selected within the program for implementing the hospitality aid scheme, announced by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MEET), according to a statement.

Through the new partnership with MEET, OTP Bank continues to support the local economy and the development of HoReCa companies, respectively in the fields of tourism, public food service and event organization, whose activity was affected in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, by allocating grants for this sector.

Through the non-reimbursable financing plan, based on GEO no. 224/2020, with subsequent amendments and completions, beneficiaries that meet the eligibility criteria will be able to obtain Government issued grants in the amount of maximum 20% of the calculation base, the latter being calculated as the difference of turnover, income, etc., obtained from the eligible activities related to 2019 and those related to 2020, up to a limit of 800,000 euros per beneficiary.

In addition, customers will benefit of zero commissions for receipts / payments in RON for inter / intrabank transactions, except for commissions with third parties (ex: Transfond; NBR), for the amounts in the grant accounts that will be opened.

The total budget for the state aid plan will be 500 million euros, the equivalent of 2.5 billion lei, and by implementing the measure it is estimated that state aid will be granted to 74,000 beneficiaries. If the applications exceed the allocated budget, the amounts that each beneficiary will receive will decrease proportionally, so that all eligible applicants will receive aid.

The aid scheme will be open until December 31, 2021, and the payment of the corresponding amounts will be made by June 30, 2022, within the budget appropriations, according to the Ministry.

The representatives of the beneficiaries that want to apply within this Program may access the link, to find out the steps they must follow to register their application and to choose OTP Bank as a partner bank.

The complete list of eligible areas of activity (eligible CAENs - Classification of Activities in the National Economy) in which beneficiaries must operate in order to obtain this type of grant, as well as the eligibility criteria, are described in detail in GEO no. 224/2020, with subsequent amendments and completions.