June 12 (SeeNews) - The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) said on Tuesday that it has signed a 20 million euro ($23.6 million) framework loan agreement with Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, a unit of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, to support the partial lease financing of micro, small, and medium-sized (MSME) investments.
"This framework loan agreement will unblock access to financing for many Bulgarian MSMEs and will help to create new jobs at a time when job creation and preservation is a focus area for governments across Europe and a priority for the CEB," CEB quoted its governor, Rolf Wenzel, as saying during an official visit to Bulgaria.
During his visit, Wenzel also met with Bulgaria's finance minister Vladislav Goranov, deputy economy minister Alexander Manolev and the director of the Bulgarian Development Bank, Stoyan Mavrodiev.
"In addition to exchanging views on current economic affairs, they discussed the CEB’s mandate and role in advancing social cohesion in Europe, as well as Bulgaria’s public investment needs with a view to strengthening cooperation with the CEB in the future," CEB said.
Raiffeisenbank was Bulgaria's sixth largest lender in terms of assets at the end of April, according to central bank data.
($ = 0.8480 euro)