July 30 (SeeNews) - Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria said on Thursday that it the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a 40 million euro ($46.9 million) loan guarantee to enable the bank to improve access to financing of local water utility companies.
Half of the financing will be funded with EBRD's ordinary capital resources, while the remaining 20 million euro will be sourced from the EBRD-EU Special Fund, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria said in a statement.
The EBRD-EU Special Fund financial resources are being managed by the EBRD under an operational agreement between the bank and the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria signed in October 2018.
The project's main objective is to facilitate the structuring of long-term bank loans to fund the investment programmes of regional water operators.
The agreement is part of the ESIF/EBRD Water Sector Financing Framework, which envisages financing investments of water utility companies in Bulgaria by combining financial resources from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) with the EBRD's own capital resources as well as funds mobilised from other commercial sources. The total estimated cost of the investment projects to be financed under the framework is up to 1.2 billion euro.
($ = 0.8521 euro)
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