BDB to grant BGN 335 mln for the establishment of an Agricultural Guarantee Fund

A loan of BGN 335 mln will be granted by the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) for the establishment of an Agricultural Guarantee Fund under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, decided Ministers yesterday. The funds will be allocated to the Paying Agency under the umbrella of the State Fund Agriculture. After the signing of the contract, the financing for farmers' projects will be provided as early as the end of 2011.

A year ago, a guarantee fund of more than BGN 4 mln was successfully launched in the fisheries sector, announced Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food, Tsvetan Dimitrov, at the opening of the first data centre under the EU Operational Programme (OP). So far, 25% of the projected grants for over BGN 51 mln have been agreed, while 7.4% of these, or BGN 15 mln, have been transferred to farmers. In response to Klassa's daily question regarding the danger of losing grants under the OP, Dimitrov replied that he hoped that all projected grants of BGN 116 mln will be absorbed by the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector, so long as the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) government manages to agree with the European Commission on the transfer of another €3-5 mln to the Guarantee Fund for Fishermen.

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