A low-interest loan scheme for businesses is being drafted

The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism must prepare a low-interest loan scheme for firms developing projects under Operational Programme Competitiveness in the shortest possible time, insisted Minister of EU Funds Management Tomislav Donchev. By March, at the latest, the scheme should be presented with specific deadlines for its implementation and the conditions that will apply to firms.

The decision was taken at the meeting between Minister Donchev and representatives of the Bulgarian Association of Consultants in European Programmes. It was attended by Julieta Hubenova, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, representatives of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIB), the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), and others.

The main dispute concerning grant financing and financial engineering will remain open in the next programming period as well. “OP Competitiveness will be the largest financial tool and, this year, we have to outline how it will operate as of the beginning of 2014," said Minister Donchev. According to him, the allocation formula for the entire volume in the period of 2014 – 2020 envisages some 30% of the resources to be earmarked to the Cohesion Fund, 25% - to the European Social Fund and the rest - to the European Regional Development Fund.