Irish SMEs draw down €172m in SBCI funding

Irish firms drew down €172m in lower cost loans from the government’s SME financing fund in its first 10 months in operation.

Some 4,620 Irish SMEs received an average of €37,000 in funding from the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to the end of December 2015.

The loans — which businesses apply for through SBCI’s range of on-lending partners — supported 17,000 Irish jobs last year, according to the fund.