Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) has ordered his department to publish a tender calling for the creation of a loan fund for small and medium businesses from institutional and banking coffers.
The fund will act on a unique model by which financial partners will be set up, consisting of a bank and one or more investing institutions, to provide the loans.
As part of the fund's operation, the government will provide 600 million shekels ($154 million US) for the first stage, which is expected to be used to bring in business credits worth about 6 billion shekels ($1.54 billion US).