Economy Ministry to Implement Measures in Support of Business Worth Lv 1.8 Bln

Meeting with employers here on Tuesday, Economy Minister Lachezar Borisov presented the Government's new socio-economic measures against the consequences of COVID-19. He explained that these measures are divided into two groups: the first will be financed entirely by the budget with 1.163 billion leva and the second will be implemented by the Economy Ministry with 1.8 billion leva. The measures could soon be broadened on 400 million leva from the REACT-EU programme, Borisov added.

He specified that out of the 1.8 billion leva, only 18.5 million leva will come from the budget, specifically for measures under the Investment Promotion Act, while the rest will come from the EU funds that are being redirected.

Special attention will be paid to investments, Borisov went on to say. One of the measures is related to the promotion of existing investments, namely 56 projects worth 700 million leva and providing over 8,000 jobs. In his words, new investments worth over 1 billion leva are expected, and that is the ambition and goal of the Economy Ministry's team.

Borisov said he has proposed that representatives of employers become part of a body that will supervise the distribution of EU resources at the Economy Ministry.

Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association head Vassil Velev said that out of the 1.8 billion leva for the second group of socio-economic measures, 750 million leva are grants, while the rest are loans and loan guarantees through the Bulgarian Development Bank and the Fund of Funds. The main figure there is 500 million leva, which will activate a resource of 2 billion leva, he added.

Within the 750 million leva of grants, 68 million leva will go towards the scheme for increasing the capacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 9 million leva will go towards a voucher scheme for digitization at SMEs, but the business proposed that the sum be doubled.

A total of 5.5 million leva will be allocated for a competition session of the National Innovation Fund. A call for proposals from medium-sized enterprises is under way under a scheme of Operational Programme (OP) Competitiveness worth 200 million leva, Velev said, adding that the competent authorities have been asked to speed up the projects' assessment. A new scheme worth 200 million leva for investment support for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises remains to be finalized, he added.

The Economy Minister said that this OP's managing authority is facing such a stress test for the first time: there are 27,000 applications to assess, Borisov said. He expects this work to be finished within slightly over a month.

According to Borisov, the Bulgarian Development Bank is transparent, and it has the highest liquidity and capital adequacy after the recent stress tests. Now that he is Economy Minister, Borisov proposes that his previous position as head of the Bank be taken by Deputy Economy Minister Stamen Yanev.

Valeri Simeonov, Deputy Parliament Chairman and leader of the NFSB party within the power-sharing United Patriots coalition, also attended the meeting with employers. He expressed support for the Economy Minister's way of work.

He said it is up to the prosecution service to prove or dismiss the information that there are brokers at the Economy Ministry without whom it is impossible to obtain a grant.

Source: BTA