Bulgaria’s PM held talks with the President of the European Central Bank

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov held talks with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on April 22. The two discussed options to address the consequences of COVID-19 and the need for a common European financial response to the negative effects of the pandemic.

Christine Lagarde congratulated Prime Minister Borissov on the social and economic measures undertaken to support Bulgarian business during the coronavirus state of emergency.

Boyko Borissov told Lagarde that Bulgaria is allocating BGN 4.5 billion to support small and medium-sized businesses, the self-employed and people on unpaid leave during the crisis in the form of financial instruments.

PM Borissov and ECB President Lagarde welcomed the establishment of a swap line between the ECB and the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) to provide liquidity in euro. The swap line will be in effect until 12/31/2020 or as long as necessary.

This is a great support for Bulgaria and a guarantee for additional stability of the currency board, which in a crisis situation should be protected as much as possible, the Bulgarian PM said.

He emphasized that admission of Bulgaria to the waiting room of the euro zone will be of great benefit to the country’s economy and added that the common banking control is a guarantee for the transparency of the work of Bulgarian banks.

Borissov also highlighted the specific steps and efforts that the government, banking sector and supervision in Bulgaria have implemented in the preparation process.

In the course of the conversation, PM Borissov noted the steady growth of the Gross Domestic Product in Bulgaria in the recent years, as well as the financial stability and discipline.. He said that the country has good credit history in fiscal and budgetary discipline and has the second lowest debt of a country in the EU in terms of debt-to-GDP ratio.