The Minister of Innovation and Growth Daniel Lorer presented a new program developed by the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) in support of Bulgarian companies to finance their electricity costs.
"The volume of the program, as a start, is BGN 20 million and will be allocated from BGN 20,000 to BGN 200,000 to micro, small and medium enterprises," Lorer said during the briefing.
"We continue to support small and medium-sized businesses through BDB, after the programs for tourism and rose processors, now we are announcing one for electricity costs, because we all know how much electricity bills weigh on business," he added. According to him, the bank's management has made extraordinary efforts to create a program for unsecured loans in a relatively short time, so that companies can reschedule their payments on the accounts.
"The loan repayment period is 12 months. We have provided some relatively good interest rates for clients with better credit ratings, "said BDB Executive Director Vladimir Georgiev.
The bank also clarified that all owners of micro, small and medium enterprises, with the exception of electricity traders, will be able to benefit from the financing. He added that the condition is that the company's electricity bill is over 5% of its operating costs.
Minister Lorer pointed out that they are also working on a grant program, this time under the Operational Program "Innovation and Competitiveness", under which nearly BGN 140 million are provided for energy efficiency in small and medium enterprises. "It will most likely start by the end of March after the public debate on it is over. The measure is also particularly important in the context of a significant increase in electricity and gas prices," Lorer said.
BDB provides micro, small and medium-sized enterprises from all sectors with the opportunity to reschedule their electricity costs for four consecutive months of choice within 2022.
The amount of financing will be determined on the basis of the net value (after deducting the compensation from the state) of the invoices for the electricity consumed by the companies for the period January - December 2022, and the bank can cover up to 75% of the value of the invoice.
The new program to help SMEs cope with rising electricity prices will help companies gain easier access to liquidity to deal with the crisis. The measure is in response to the difficulties faced by businesses, forced to pay higher electricity bills while suffering a loss of income as a result of the pandemic.
