NW 20:47:01 28-07-2020
LN2058NW.444
ECONOMY - MINISTER - COVID-19 - NEW MEASURES

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


Sofia, July 28 (BTA) - 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. RI/DS



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