December 29 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) said that it and United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) signed an agreement to guarantee over 110 million euro ($117.2 million) in new loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-caps in Bulgaria.
The contract was signed under InvestEU programme, which is aimed at providing long-term funding to companies and supporting EU policies, EIB Group said in a statement last week.
As agreed, the European Investment Fund (EIF), which is part of EIB Group, will provide guarantees for loans under three key policy areas. The competitiveness guarantee will support about 76 euro million of new debt financing for SMEs to contribute to their competitiveness, growth and jobs. The sustainability guarantee will back about 24 million euro of new debt financing for SMEs and small mid-caps to assist Europe’s green transition. Finally, 10 million euro in loans under the SME innovation and digitalisation guarantee will support businesses that develop and introduce new products, services and processes.
“We appreciate UBB’s very proactive response to InvestEU — the first application in Bulgaria, and one of the first in the European Union. Today’s agreement will further increase the EIF’s and UBB’s cooperation in key EU policy areas and boost the competitiveness of Bulgarian business,” EIB vice-president Lilyana Pavlova commented in the statement.
UBB, which is part of Belgian financial services group KBC, signed in August an agreement with the Bulgarian Development Bank's (BDB) National Guarantee Fund (NGF) to provide financing to support local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) under a loan guarantee mechanism. As part of the agreement, UBB will offer MSMEs loans totalling 192 million levs ($104.5 million/98.2 million euro).
($ = 0.93842 euro)
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