EIB Group provides €494 million in support to Bulgaria in 2022

• EIB green financing reached €241 million
• EIB Group to support the private sector under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and InvestEU
• EIB Group operations benefited 7 800 businesses and supported more than 133 000 jobs

The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group), which consists of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), provided loans, guarantees and equity commitments worth €494 million for projects in Bulgaria in 2022. EIB green financing in Bulgaria reached €241 million, which represented 50% of total EIB activity in the country.

In a press conference held in Sofia today, EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova underlined the impact of EIB Group financing in Bulgaria and presented the strategic outlook for the year ahead.

EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova said: “This last year continued to be challenging for the Bulgarian economy because of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the humanitarian and economic crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I am happy that we stayed on our path to support projects that improve people’s lives and accelerated EIB lending for the transition to a sustainable future. Going forward, we are committed to increase our support for green infrastructure projects and support the private sector under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and InvestEU.’’

Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova commented: “The EIB is an active player in the international efforts of addressing the consequences of today's crisis and we highly appreciate the Bank's active involvement and its willingness to support the Member States and to seek and propose solutions that complement the European and national recovery programmes and actions. We would like to thank the EIB Group for its active work in supporting small and medium-sized businesses in Bulgaria and to encourage it to continue seeking appropriate mechanisms and instruments to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises so that they can successfully deal with the consequences of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, emerge from the crisis and enhance their competitiveness.”   

EIB Group activities in Bulgaria in 2022

The EIB is committed to increase its lending for green priorities and possible co-financing under the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) in the transport and energy sectors. In December, a new operation for the development of the Sofia metro (€195.5 million) was signed.

Additional co-financing of €50 million was agreed for Sofia’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, expanding the share of urban development projects, focused on pedestrian mobility infrastructure, contributing to easier access for people with reduced mobility to public infrastructure and improving air quality.

In the banking sector, the EIB Group signed operations worth €190 million including the first synthetic securitisation portfolio guarantee under the European Guarantee Fund (€90 million) with Unicredit Bulbank.

Recovery and Resilience Plan and InvestEU

The Republic of Bulgaria entrusted the EIF with a mandate to manage about €330 million in funds from the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan to implement guarantee products through the Member State compartment of InvestEU and equity instruments under the Smart Industry component of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The guarantee and equity products are designed to crowd in significant private funding that will bring the available financing for Bulgarian small businesses (SMEs and mid-caps) under the RRP instruments to €1.5 billion or more. 

The funds will be focused on growth, innovation and investments in climate neutrality and digital transformation and will go to the Bulgarian undertakings that have been most affected by the long-lasting negative economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

UBB is the first financial institution in Bulgaria that signed an InvestEU guarantee agreement with the EIF which will foster competitiveness, innovation and sustainability projects in the country, supporting with more than €125 million in new loans for small businesses and mid-caps.

EIB signs partnership with Fund FLAG

At the press conference, the EIB and Fund FLAG announced that at the end of 2022 they agreed a €40 million loan, which will support urban renewal and rehabilitation investments such as energy efficiency and urban development in cities across Bulgaria.

EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova stated: “We have always believed that the EIB should have a far-reaching effect across the whole country and that rehabilitation investments should by no means be limited to the capital city itself. Fund FLAG has been our long-standing partner in reaching out to smaller municipalities and we trust this partnership will continue to be successful in the future.’’

Nadya Dankinova, Executive Director of Fund Flag commented: “For us the EIB’s support plays a crucial role for regional development by ensuring that all Bulgarian municipalities, regardless of their size, have access to finance in order to achieve our collective goal of a greener and more sustainable future. We greatly appreciate the responsibility that has been entrusted to Fund FLAG and look forward to continuing our prosperous relationship with the EIB.”   

EIB Investment Survey results for Bulgaria

The press conference was followed by a presentation of the annual EIB Investment Survey results for Bulgaria. The survey gathers unique insights on the corporate investment landscape in the European Union. The survey found that Bulgarian firms were more optimistic in 2022 than in 2021, as more expect to increase rather than decrease investment (net increase of 14%). Large firms and firms from the infrastructure sector were most likely to increase investment in 2022.

EIB Group 2022 results

Overall EIB Group financing signed last year reached €72.5 billion, which is expected to support around €260 billion in investment and create 950 000 jobs by 2026. Almost half of EIB lending in the European Union (45.9%) was signed for projects in cohesion regions, underlying the Bank’s support for equitable growth and convergence across the European Union.

The EIB offered immediate relief to Ukraine right after the outbreak of the war, disbursing €1.7 billion in funds last year to help finance emergency repairs to the country’s infrastructure ravaged by Russian bombing. The Bank remains committed to stepping up its activities in Ukraine, in line with the mandate given by EU leaders, and in close cooperation with the European Commission, the European Parliament and international partners.

Green financing from the EIB increased substantially again to €36.5 billion (58% of the total), meaning that the Bank met its commitment to devote at least half of its resources to climate action and environmental sustainability, well ahead of its 2025 target. Overall, the EIB Group is well on track to achieve its objective of supporting €1 trillion in green financing this decade, having already backed €222 billion in investment over the past two years.

The EIB Group signed a record amount in new financing for renewables, efficiency, storage and grids in 2022, highlighting the EU bank’s unwavering commitment to ensure access to affordable energy at a time of extreme uncertainty. Total EIB financing signed for sustainable energy projects inside the European Union reached an unprecedented €17.06 billion, as the Bank began rolling out a special package of support for the REPowerEU plan to end dependency on Russian fuel imports.