July 14 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), which pools state-owned energy companies, will pay to the state budget a dividend of 800 million levs ($458.5 million/409 million euro) for the first half of 2023 and will additionally contribute its entire retained profit from previous years based on its 2022 annual report, the Bulgarian government said.
BEH will need to make the payments to the state budget by July 31, the government said in a press release after a regular cabinet session on Thursday.
You can download the 2023 Renewable energy in Bulgaria report here
The measure will help Bulgaria achieve a budget deficit of no more than 3%, which is one of the conditions for entry into the eurozone, the government noted.
Benefitting from a spike in energy prices, BEH posted a retained profit of 3.21 billion levs in 2022 against roughly 255 million levs a year earlier, according to its annual consolidated financial statement.
BEH holds a group of state-owned companies which are active in electricity generation, supply and transmission, natural gas distribution, supply and storage, and coal mining. Subsidiaries include nuclear power plant operator Kozloduy, Electricity System Operator (ESO) and gas grid operator Bulgartransgaz. BEH also owns a 50% stake in ICGB, the independent transmission operator of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)