Since 2003, the government has begun issuing loan guarantees to help established and expanding SMEs across all sectors of the economy. Funding from private banks and institutional organs are partly guaranteed by the governmental Loan Guarantee Fund. Under this fund, the Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance and the SMBA operate two coordination companies that assess the business plans for credit applications, conduct due diligence with SMEs and estimate the risk of the loans. According to recommendations from this risk estimation, the fund sets up a dialogue with the bank to determine the loan’s applicable interest rate, define specific loan conditions and approve the loan. The scheme is open to SMEs with annual turnovers of less than ILS 100 million.
The scheme provides a maximum of ILS 500 000 for new businesses or those with annual turnover of less than ILS 6.25 million. For those with an annual turnover between ILS 6.25 million and ILS 100 million, loans of up to 8% of turnover, for exporters up to 12% of turnover can be provided. For industrial businesses, loan provision extends up to 15% of turnover. The loan period is 5 years, or up to 12 years for industrial capital investments. A grace period of six months can be granted for principal payments. The interest rate is determined by the banks for each loan, taking into consideration the government guarantee and the risk of the loan. In addition, the business owner is required to provide his/her personal guarantee. The total loan portfolio is limited to the leveraging ratio agreed upon with each bank.
The programme requires a ratio no lower than 70:30 of outstanding loans for small businesses to outstanding loans for medium businesses.
The SME fund is based on loans executed by banks selected in a tender. The banks leverage the guarantee assigned to them by the government (the portfolio) by up to 11 times. As of March 2016, a new state-guaranteed small and medium-sized business fund was established, replacing the previous fund. Unlike in previous funds, this fund’s source of finance includes institutional funding (for example, from insurance companies and pension funds) in addition to bank funding, in order to expand available credit for businesses. In addition, various improvements have been introduced in favour of businesses, including an increase of the maximum credit limit for exporters and the opening of a designated loan option for industrial capital investments in which long-term 12-year loans can be issued.
In order to help SMEs cope with the COVID-19 crisis, a new enlarged fund was launched in March 2020. The fund offered special terms such as a grace period of twelve months, average interest rate of Prime interest+1.5%, interest payments buy the government for the first year and more. The new fund offered ILS 40 billion, ILS 19.4 billion were approved to 57 003 businesses.
In June 2020, as part of the new fund, ILS 4 billion were allocated to high-risk businesses, with 60% guarantee (as opposed to 15% in existing funds). ILS 1.9 billion were approved to 3 851 businesses.
The Central Bank of Israel launched monetary plans for credit supply expansion, such as intervention in the bond market, lowering capital requirements in the banking system, creating an infrastructure for broadening the variety of assets that banks could put as securities for credit, postponements of loan payments and more.
The government has developed programs to improve employment among targeted populations, notably in the peripheries, by assisting SMEs in the hiring and training of new employees. Additional programs, also sponsored by the government, encourage SMEs to invest in new equipment to increase productivity.