site.btaClose to 80% of Public-Sector Investments in Bulgaria Are Made with EU Funding

Close to 80% of Public-Sector Investments in Bulgaria Are Made with EU Funding

Sofia, November 17 (BTA) - Close to 80 per cent of the
public-sector investments in Bulgaria are financed by the EU,
Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said here Tuesday. He was
 speaking at a conference on "The First Seven Years in the EU:
Assessment of Investment in Long-Term Growth and the Net Effects
 on Sectoral and Regional Level".

Donchev said that Bulgaria is not the front-runner in this
respect. Slovakia financed 92 per cent of its public investments
 with EU funding and Hungary 88 per cent.

The ratio of EU funding to all public costs would be no more
than 9 per cent in a strong year, the Deputy Prime Minister
commented. He added that what Bulgaria has received from the EU
is at least 5-6 billion euro more than its contribution to the
EU, depending on whether the figures include the direct
payments, the bilateral instruments and the pre-accession funds
in the period after 2007.

Slightly over 20 per cent of the funding has been invested in
transport infrastructure, including 20.7 km of underground train
 services, 20 metro stations, 28 metro trains, 175 km of
motorways, 31 km of first-grade roads and 250 km of
rehabilitated railways. Close to 18 per cent of the investment
went to local and regional development; 12.7 per cent in human
capital and 12.2 per cent in business development.

One month and two weeks remain to the end of the current
programming period, Donchev said. The average weekly payments
for this period total 50 million euro. "It is hard to predict
how the programming period will end but we can surely hope for
95 per cent absorption," the Deputy Prime Minister added.

The current absorption rate is 92-93 per cent.