July 13 (SeeNews) - State-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) said on Thursday it has launched a 300 million euro ($341.6 million) programme for providing financing small and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) jointly with the European Investment Bank.
Under the programme BDB will provide up to 50 million euro of financing to commercial banks for on-lending to SMEs and it is prepared to assume up to 100% of the credit risk, the bank said in a statement.
The financing of the new programme is jointly provided by BDB and EIB as part of the EU's Investment Plan for Europe.
The proposal for the new programme has been sent to all of the commercial banks in Bulgaria, which are expected to express their interest by end-July.
The companies could apply for loans of between 3 million levs and 24 million levs, for investment or operational financing purposes, excluding refinancing of existing loans. The loan interest rate is equal to the Euribor plus a margin between 2% and 4%. The loan repayment deadline is 2032.
The European Commission's Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called Juncker Plan, focuses on boosting European investments to create jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment and providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.
($ = 0.8782 euro)