February 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has formally notified the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC) of its upcoming withdrawal as a founding shareholder and member, the Moscow-headquartered lender said.
The withdrawal notification was made on February 16, with Bulgaria's formal exit to take place within six months, IBEC said in a statement published by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on Friday.
Shortly before being dissolved earlier this month, the Bulgarian parliament approved on second and final reading a bill stipulating the country's withdrawal from two Soviet-era banks, IBEC and Hungary-based International Investment Bank (IIB), as part of coordinated action by EU member states in response to the Russian war on Ukraine.
In January, IBEC announced a timeline for the impending withdrawal of Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, but said that Bulgaria had not yet lodged a formal notice of withdrawal.
In September 2021, IBEC made its debut on the main market of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange with a bond issue worth 68 million levs ($41.1 million/34.8 million euro), IBEC's first on the European debt market.