December 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria said on Thursday it entrusted the European Investment Fund (EIF) with a mandate to provide equity financing of up to 180 million euro ($190.9 million) to local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME).
The financing, part of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan, will become available to MSMEs in 2023, the innovation ministry and EIF said in a joint statement.
The EIF, which is part of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group), said it will invest in country-focused or regional funds and facilities that will, in turn, support technology transfer projects, SMEs, and mid-caps to foster innovation.
The total financing includes three equity instruments. As part of the first instrument, 75 million euro will be invested in the recovery of SME’s from the COVID-19 crisis. The funding will cover overhead costs, salaries, materials or supplies with the aim of keeping jobs and acquiring new equipment.
The second equity product, also worth 75 million euro, will increase the ability of companies to create and implement innovation. The funds will be invested in research and development (R&D) activities, acquisition of intellectual property and knowledge transfer. The financing will allow the purchase of machines to develop innovative products.
The third instrument, with a value of 30 million euro, will support SMEs as well as companies with special purposes and infrastructure projects which contribute to the environmental protection, digitalisation and fight against climate change.
In November, Bulgaria entrusted EIF to implement two more equity instruments with a total value of 300 million levs ($162.6 million/153.3 million euro).
Including the new partnership, the EIF will manage financing totalling 330 million euro under the approved Recovery and Resilience Plan for Bulgaria.
($ = 0.94332 euro)