Bulgarian Development Bank seeks BGN 1.7 billion in EU funding for SMEs

The state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) has officially written to the European Commission expressing its desire to attract additional funds for the recovery and development of small and medium-sized businesses through the European programme InvestEU.

The total resource that the bank seeks to receive is up to BGN 1.7 billion. The state-owned lender is expected to be included in the InvestEU programme in October, , the Ministry of Economy announced on July 2.

At the end of May, BDB conducted market research among potential financial intermediaries and branch organizations. The aim was to structure the most suitable for the Bulgarian market guarantee product under the EC programme.

As a result of the approval of the new funds by the EC, the new guarantee product of the bank will mobilize public and private resources to provide access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in areas that banks consider a high risk.

This will be a real opportunity to increase the competitiveness of companies by increasing the capacity of enterprises in areas such as: digitalization, innovation, internationalization and new sustainable technologies.

It is expected that more than 3,260 small and medium-sized Bulgarian companies will be supported and at least 8,000 jobs will be created, and more than 18,000 will be retained.

The InvestEU program will be implemented for the period 2021-2027 as the EU's main instrument for investing in economic recovery, environmental progress and employment in Europe. This is one of the mechanisms to support growth after the Covid crisis and to achieve the EU's goals of building a green, digital and sustainable European economy.