Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) has provided BGN 500 M for funding small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) since its establishment in 2008.

The BDB announced Wednesday that the total amount it has granted to commercial banks for loans in order to credit SMEs for turnover and investment purposes has surpassed BGN 0.5 B.

Under the existing credit lines, there are still BGN 67.3 M granted from the BDB to the commercial banks to grant new loans to private companies. Of these, BGN 31,6 M are set aside for turnover and investment funding of SMEs, and BGN 35,7M are for funding of agricultural producers.

By April 2010, commercial banks have repaid 452 loans amounting to BGN 71 M. 365 of these loans were given to agriculture producers, the other 96 – to SMEs.

The Bulgarian Development Bank AD is the successor of Encouragement Bank set up in 1999. The latter was transformed into a development bank after the adoption of a special law by the Parliament of Bulgaria in April 2008.