AMSTERDAM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The Dutch government will expand the number of small and medium-sized businesses that can apply for a loan guarantee from the state to keep the credit crisis from hurting the real economy.
Dutch Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven and industry groups agreed late on Monday to allow companies with up to 250 employees to be eligible for the state guarantee, up from 100 employees previously, the ministry said in a statement.
The Dutch move is a step beyond multi-billion-euro programmes to inject capital into banks and unfreeze interbank lending, addressing loans to businesses directly.
"There are no major issues yet, but you have to think ahead," Van der Hoeven said.
The maximum guarantee amount was raised to 1.5 million euros ($2 million) from 1 million. The ministry said it is guaranteeing a total of 745 million euros of loans and that the amount could be raised to 825 million.
The Netherlands, a country of 16 million people, has about 750,000 companies with up to 250 employees that in total provide 4 million jobs, the ministry said.

(Reporting by Niclas Mika; Editing by Kim Coghill) ($1=.7437 Euro) Keywords: DUTCH LOANS/ tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com vs

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