The caretaker government withdraws €1.4 billion from the BBR’s “war chest”

Caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov announced plans to withdraw €1.4 billion from the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), characterizing the funds as “locked up” assets that generate interest without entering the economy. Gyurov described the decision as an anti-corruption measure aimed at redirecting the funds toward healthcare, education, and social programs, rather than allowing them to become a “fast track for large loans” that the bank subsequently forgets to collect.

The Minister of Finance is proposing an anti-corruption solution – to withdraw 1.4 billion euros from the ‘Borisov – Peevski’ model’s piggy bank – the BBR,” Gyurov stated.

He recalled that last year, just before the protests toppled it, the “Zhelyazkov” cabinet took on a record amount of debt and “locked up part of these funds in a bank with loose fingers and a short memory.”

This money must be returned to the people in the form of modern hospitals, medical helicopters, and science labs in schools,” Gyurov stated.

He emphasized that the caretaker government will not spend these funds but will simply enable the next cabinet to manage them transparently.

We recall that last year, the “Zhelyazkov” government injected a total of 2.8 billion euros into the BBR and BEH. In just one year, the BBR’s capital was increased by 2.045 billion euros. Economists warned at the time that this was a “quasi-deficit” – a trick whereby the state spends money from loans, but these funds are not recorded as expenditures in the budget; instead, they are “stored” in the bank. By law, the BBR’s resources could have reached up to €3.5 billion.

Currently, the BBR’s capital amounts to €2.6 billion. The bank was tasked with several key objectives:

• The Municipal Program: Through the BBR, 460 million euros were redirected for investments in municipalities – part of a broader program totaling over 4 billion euros through 2027, which was managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW). The opposition criticized this move as creating a “parallel reality” outside of parliamentary oversight;
• Free renovation: The BBR took over the management of projects under the Energy Efficiency Program (EEP) worth €70 million after it was decided that they would be 100% funded by the state;
• The new national renovation program: A new phase of renovation was planned, funded by the state budget to the tune of 1.2 billion euros, which was again to be managed by the BBR.

Translated with DeepL.