The European Investment Bank has financed Bulgaria with EUR 1.5 billion

For the past five years, the European Investment Bank has provided EUR 1.5 billion  for the Bulgarian economy. Last year alone, the bank provided EUR 103 million in loans for various projects and the European Investment Fund supported eight projects worth a total of EUR 114 million. The largest investment of the ECB for the year 2018 is a loan of EUR 14 million to Agria Group Holding for a new port facility in Varna, a EUR 22 million loan to the Sofia Municipality, which funds the construction of line 3 of the second phase of the Sofia metro and EUR 67 million for the construction and commissioning of a new combined heat power plant for the district heating network in Sofia, managed by Toplofikacia Sofia EAD. This was made clear at a special press conference given by the bank's representation in Bulgaria on 15 March 2019.

"In 2018, we performed strongly in Bulgaria, especially with the expansion of our advisory services and we continue to support the economy in the new year with two important transactions." The EIB Group's financing accounted for close to 0.4% of Bulgaria's GDP in the past year that is above the EU average, while the consultancy services provided helped to implement projects worth nearly EUR 2 billion, demonstrating the important role of the bank in the country," said EIB Vice President Vazil Hudak.

The European Investment Fund continued to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Bulgaria by allocating funds totaling EUR 78 million through four new guarantee operations and a new venture capital fund totaling EUR 168 million for debt and equity financing.

Thanks to EIF's activities in Bulgaria, 3,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in the year 2018 received funding of nearly EUR 408 million. Given the success of the Jeremy initiative, the EIF and the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy agreed in the past year to launch two new financial instruments with the accumulated funds through the Jeremy activities. The documentary financial guarantee instrument will absorb up to EUR 30 million of the accumulated funds for new trade finance guarantees in support of the international profile and the diversification of the Bulgarian economy with a loan amounting to EUR 200 million. The InvestBG Equity program will use Jeremy's proceeds and EIF's own funds to commit up to EUR 110 million in venture capital and equity investment in Bulgaria and direct equity participation in Bulgarian companies. It is envisaged that the first transactions under the Documentary Financial Guarantee Instrument and the InvestBG Equity program will be implemented in 2019.

EIB Vice President Vazil Hudak also drew attention to the EIB's advisory services. Bulgaria is one of the largest users of these services. Since 2006, Jaspers has helped to complete a large number of Bulgarian investment projects, whose total value exceeds EUR 5.5 billion for 30 major projects, with nearly EUR 3.9 billion in grants, provided with the assistance of the European Commission. In addition to already completed projects, Jaspers currently works in Bulgaria for 28 consultancy and capacity building projects.