site.btaBulgaria Has Supported 100,000-Plus Ukrainian Refugees from February 24 to May 31, 2022

Bulgaria has provided support to over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees under a programme, which pays accommodating institutions BGN 40 per refugee per day, co-financed with European funds, in the period February 24 - May 31, 2022, Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva told a press conference here on Friday. Total disbursements under the Operational Programme Innovations and Competitiveness (OPIC), Operational Programme Environment (OPE), Operational Programme Good Governance and under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund from 2014 to 2022 exceed BGN 139 million.

The implementation of the OPE and OPIC projects was presented earlier Friday.

The OPE project has covered costs of BGN 29.1 million for 728,877 overnight stays, breakfasts and lunches for over 40,000 Ukrainian refugees, of which nearly 28,000 were children. A request for final payment for over 31,000 more nights is pending, Georgieva said.

OPIC has submitted a request for final payment, bringing the total project cost to BGN 59.6 million for 1.5 million nights of accommodation for 63,753 refugees, of whom 26,991 were children under 18.

Currently, hotels and state-run facilities accommodate nearly 7,000 Ukrainian refugees.