April 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will direct an additional 41 million levs ($22.8 million/21.0 million euro) of funding under the EU's operational programme Innovations and Competitiveness to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the coronavirus crisis, the innovation ministry said.
A total of 815 SMEs will benefit from the additional support, the innovation ministry said in a statement last week.
Each of the companies will receive 50,000 levs to reimburse the operating costs for salaries, materials, and consumables made during the pandemic. Companies with an annual turnover of over 500,000 levs each will be eligible to receive the financing.
As many as 636 Bulgarian SMEs have already signed contracts to obtain financing under the Innovations and Competitiveness programme and are expected to receive their money within a maximum of three months, according to the statement.
The total number of companies supported under this measure is expected to reach 4,400 and the allocated funds are projected to exceed 219 million levs, the ministry said.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)