September 28 (SeeNews) - State-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) said on Thursday it agreed the provision of a five-year, 50 million euro ($58.7 million) loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM Bank) for on-lending to Bulgarian businesses.
BDB will use the proceeds of the loan money to fund Bulgarian companies, finance commercial operations, as well as support and encourage the economic relations between Bulgaria and China, BDB said in a statement.
This is the first loan agreement between the two banks, which signed a Financial Cooperation Agreement in April 2014. The agreement envisages co-financing of key projects and regions.
In May, BDB received an 80 million euro loan from China Development Bank to support Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as strategic projects from the One Belt, One Road initiative.
State-owned EXIM Bank focuses on promoting foreign trade and investment as well as development assistance in concessional funding.
BDB is focused on support for local SMEs, export-oriented companies and public projects of national significance. The bank is 99.9% state-owned.
($ = 0.8509 euro)
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