Bulgarian Deputy PM Pekanov: We Need Investments to Boost Supply

Jerusalem, 12 September, 2022 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 12.09.2022 (BTA)
“We need to make investments that will boost supply, small and medium-sized enterprises are the engine of Bulgarian economy,” caretaker Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds Management Atanas Pekanov told representatives of medium and small businesses during an information meeting, mottoed “Big money for small business” on Monday. The event is organized by the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency and is taking place in Sofia Hotel Balkan.

In Pekanov’s words, the current economic uncertainty and difficult situation are a fact, but they are also an opportunity.

The implementation of the EU funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan should be carefully planned, he warned.

According to Pekanov, when inflation is high, businesses find it difficult to invest and private investments decline. This is exactly the right moment when public investment can help, which is why the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism was adopted to support such enterprises, he explained.

Pekanov drew attention to the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises provide over 70% of the value added in the economy and the state institutions should ‘take more care’ of them. The level of digitization can be enhanced, better. The Ministry of Innovation and Growth has already announced its first funding program for such steps. The levels of digitalization should be increased and the Innovation and Growth Ministry has already announced its first funding program focused on bringing more digital technologies to businesses.

“We have learned from the European Commission that the draft act regarding the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are in the right direction. Once finalized, the caretaker cabinet will submit them [the draft acts] to Parliament and [then] it will be the responsibility of the MPs to adopt them. The next allocations under the plan will be the responsibility of the MPs – they will have to put aside their differences,” Pekanov told journalists.

“The first program under the Recovery and Resilience Plan has already been announced, companies are applying, and two more programs worth some BGN 600 million will be opened by the end of the year by the Ministry of Innovation and Growth alone,” Pekanov said, adding that other ministries, including the Transport Ministry and the Energy Ministry, are also preparing funding programs under the plan.

At the same time, Bulgaria has submitted its first payment request to receive BGN 2.7 billion for reforms already carried out, he also said.

Speaking at the forum, caretaker Innovation and Growth Minister Alexander Pulev said that the Ministry of Innovation and Growth alone will inject BGN 735 million into the Bulgarian economy by the end of the year. Most of the funds will be allocated to small and medium-sized enterprises, he added.

Most of the funding will be under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Pulev said. In his words, the plan is working and, until September 21, businesses are eligible to apply under a technological modernization procedure that has a budget of BGN 260 million.

The Innovation Ministry is also working on a second procedure within the NRRP. Its total budget is some BGN 30 million, earmarked for Information Communications and Technology (ICT) solutions and cybersecurity. This will be grant aid for some 1,400 companies, Pulev said. The third procedure being prepared is for investments in photovoltaic plants and batteries and will have a budget of BGN 200 million. The fourth one will have a budget of BGN 120 million and will be focused on intellectual development, he added.

Pulev said that his ministry has also made progress in the two largest EU Structural Funds’ programs – Competitiveness and Innovation, and Research and Digital Transformation.