site.btaBlack Sea Bank to Help Bulgarian SMEs Offset COVID-19 Effect

December 6 (BTA) - Bulgaria's National Guarantee Fund (NGF) and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) signed a Framework Agreement for a Pandemic Crisis Response Programme, the BSTDB reported on Monday.

Under the agreement, the BSTDB joins the NGF in supporting Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates by offering guarantees to Bulgarian commercial banks. This guarantee programme will facilitate access to finance and improve financing conditions for final borrowers. The programme is expected to promote up to 75 million euro of new financing and help about 250 local SMEs to offset the negative impact of COVID-19 in the country.

BSTDB President Dmitry Pankin commented: "We hope our first joint programme with the NGF will prove an effective tool enabling the Bulgarian government to step up its support to the SME sector, largely affected by the pandemic, and giving BSTDB the opportunity to provide diversified support to the financial sector in Bulgaria. We are looking forward to working together with the NGF, an experienced and knowledgeable partner, to develop this product, which could be offered in other countries of our region to improve the access of SMEs to finance and to tackle the impact of the pandemic crisis." RY/VE

Photo: BSTDB