site.btaPM Borissov Orders Board of Bulgarian Development Bank Dismissed

April 8 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told
reporters on Wednesday he had ordered the Board of the Bulgarian
 Development Bank (BDB) dismissed over its decision to release
75 million leva to a debt collection firm.

The state-owned bank tried on Monday to justify its decision to
support SG Group by saying this was part of a new programme
launched by BDB "to increase liquidity in the financial system".
 

The collection firm intends to buy two banks' bad debt
portfolios with the financing. Development Bank CEO Stoyan
Mavrodiev told Wednesday 24 Chassa that Postbank and Municipal
Bank would be supported. Once they are free of part of their
non-performing loans, they will be able to finance micro-, small
 and medium-sized businesses, the BDB claimed.

At a briefing called late on Tuesday, Mavrodiev did not respond
to the criticisms in detail, summing them up as a political
attack. He said: "I am surprised at the unsavoury efforts of
certain circles to reap political dividends, even in an
unprecedented situation when many households are on the verge. I
 am not surprised by the negative interpretation of every BDB
transaction. This is not the first time - I have lost count of
the resignation demands. This has obviously become a reflex for
some political parties."

Mavrodiev added: "Such fake scandals hamper the institutions'
work and stress out the public. It is being implied all the time
 that we issue large loans to business."

Borissov told a briefing on Wednesday he was "shocked" at what
the BDB had done: "As the Finance Minister told me that no one
had talked to him [about the bank's decision], nor to the
Economy Minister, who is in charge of exercising the rights of
the State at the bank, I have ordered the Board and the CEO
dismissed with immediate effect." NV/DD


/СН/