The Economic Impact of EU Competitiveness Programs on Italian SMEs

This paper focuses on how structural funds from the EU might alleviate the credit crunch on Italian SMEs. We found that resources directly available to SMEs represent only 0.19% of 2013 loan facilities: moreover, the allotted resources for SMEs in 2014-2020 programs is expected to be even less. Not only are available resources scarce, but they are also allocated in an inefficient way through procedures that are not always transparent. We conclude that it would be very useful to improve efficiency and transparency, by adopting simpler procedures and reducing compliance costs.