NW 17:39:31 02-10-2020
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114 ECONOMY - FINANCE - EIF - UBB - EC - LOANS

EIF, UBB and European Commission
Extend Cooperation to Support
MSMEs


Sofia, October 2 (BTA) - The European Investment Fund (EIF), United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and the European Commission are extending cooperation to unlock a total of 768 million euro for Bulgarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), UBB said.

This amount includes fresh UBB loans for 400 million euro to MSMEs as EIF and UBB have agreed to more than double the existing guarantee agreement.

The loan guarantees are provided by the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) programme, launched by the European Commission to improve access to finance for SMEs.

The agreement brings the total amount of COSME-guaranteed loans available to MSMEs financed by UBB to 768 million euro (1.5 billion leva). It also introduces two new guarantee initiatives under the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility in Bulgaria: COSME COVID-19 and COSME Digitalisation, designed to help SMEs recover from COVID-19 and digitalise their business operations.

Bulgarian SMEs will be able to apply and benefit from COSME-guaranteed loans with UBB until September 30, 2023. NV/DD
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