The National Development Bank (NRB) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) launched a NEW ENERGY SAVINGS program aiming at lowering energy consumption of Czech enterprises. This new program, successor to the existing one, targets enterprises of all sizes located outside the Capital City of Prague.

The National Development Bank (NRB) and the Ministry of Environment (MoE) have designed a programme of interest-free loans in selected regions of the Czechia to support investment activities of SMEs. This programme called TRANSFORMATION is financed from the Operational Programme Just Transition. It covers three coal regions, which are the most affected Czech regions with relation to green transition and carbon neutrality. Starting on 17 April, entrepreneurs from the Moravian-Silesian Region, Ústí nad Labem Region and Karlovy Vary Region can apply for financing of their projects.

The National Development Bank (NRB) helped to finance 4,077 business projects last year with the total amount reaching CZK 24 billion (EUR 1bn). As compared with the year 2021 it is three times more, excluding specific covid programmes, most of which terminated at the end of 2021. Assisting the business sector through directly provided or guaranteed loans approached CZK 22.5 billion (EUR 0.9bn). Another CZK 232 million (EUR 10m) were provided to travel agencies in the form of a guarantee to obtain compulsory insolvency protection insurance.

The VODA Želivka Company is the largest producer of drinking water in the Czech Republic, ensuring supplies also to the Capital City of Prague. The NRB granted the company with CZK 600 million credit line to support long-term investments in water management infrastructure.

Nearly thirty promotional banks and institutions took the opportunity to discuss current economic challenges in Europe and issues of their interest during the 10th General Assembly of the European Long-term Investors Association (ELTI), this year organized by the Malta Development Bank (MDB) on 28 October.

National Development Investments (NRI), a subsidiary of the National Development Bank (NRB), continues in providing support to SMEs in the form of capital inputs. Through the „Venture Capital – IPO fund“ program, it purchased 29.57% of newly issued shares of the KARO LEATHER Company, subscribed on the START market of the Prague Stock Exchange. Shortly afterwards, the NRI also bought 22.6% of newly issued shares of the HARDWARIO Company.

Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the global energy market. The longer the war lasts, the more negative impact on European economies, especially in time of approaching winter season. In this context, ensuring sufficient energy supply at reasonable price is of vital importance for the operation of businesses - not only for energy-intensive industries, but also for small and medium-sized enterprises, still recovering from the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 9th Advisory Board meeting of the Central Europe Fund of Funds (CEFoF) was organized by the NRB in cooperation with the European Investment Fund (EIF) on 30 June 2022. Representatives of the EIF, NRB Group, Austrian Development bank (OeEB), Hungarian Development Bank (MFB), Slovene Enterprise Fund (SEF), Slovak Investment Holding (SIH) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic gathered in Prague to discuss the state-of-play of this regional equity investments initiative.

Financial instruments such as guarantees, loans or capital inputs are a modern way of supporting economically viable projects. They are usually considered to be an efficient tool for supporting the investments of the private sector. However, financial instruments are relevant also for the investments of regions, cities, municipalities or public utility companies. The National Development Bank (NRB CZ), which acts as the Czech promotional bank and the knowledge centre for financial instruments, contributes to the economic and sustainable development of the country, inter alia by offering soft loans to the public sector.

After prolonged pandemic-related business constraints or rising inflation, rising energy bills have become an urgent matter for entrepreneurs. Particularly SMEs have to make great efforts to keep their business due to increasing costs. The National Development Bank (NRB, CZ) is helping them to reduce energy costs through its ELENA and ENERGY SAVINGS programmes. The ELENA consultancy will cover 90% of the cost related to the preparation of energy-saving projects. Moreover, it helps to select the most appropriate investment financing from the range of interest-free loans offered by the NRB.