Balgarianovinite.com The government has approved the withdrawal of EUR 1.4 billion in unused capital from the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), saying that the money will flow back into the state budget. The decision was made during the Council of Ministers weekly meeting on Wednesday. Explaining his proposal for the move, caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov called the BDB a “piggy bank” that hands out huge loans and forgets to collect them.
In 2025, the government of the then prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov increased the BDB’s capital by nearly EUR 2 billion. As of today, eight months later, the bank has utilized EUR 600 million of that amount. The remaining EUR 1.4 billion remains unused and locked in the fiscal reserve. Learning of Wednesday’s decision to return the unused capital to the public purse, the BDB warned that the process will take months and will require the approval of all creditors.
At the start of the caretaker cabinet’s meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andrey Gurov said: “For eight months, EUR 1.4 billion has been locked away in this piggy bank, gathering dust, not moving, not entering the economy, but at the same time, interest is accruing on this debt, money that all citizens pay from their taxes.” Gurov said the BDB has been used to save political careers, and described it as the bank of “the Borissov-Peevski model”. The two politicians, Boyko Borissov and Delyan Peevski, have been blamed for a perceived state capture and corrupt practices. Prime Minister Gurov said the unused BDB capital will go back to taxpayers “in the form of more modern hospitals, medical helicopters, science labs in schools, and modern nursing homes.”
Agriculture and Food Minister Ivan Hristanov told a subsequent briefing that BDB resources have been used by oligarchs to obtain funds to purchase properties at knockdown prices. He referred to two such cases. In one of them, the upmarket Vedra Lodge in Mt Vitosha, which comprises 20 rooms and six apartments, was valued at EUR 1 million, which, Hristanov said, was insultingly cheap. Another property, located in Koprivshtitsa, a historic town and a major tourist attraction, was sold for EUR 100,000, although its real value was at least three times higher.
Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski said at the briefing that it is up to the next regular government to decide how to use the EUR 1.4 billion withdrawn from the BDB. Klisurski suggested that the money could serve the Bulgarian economy and citizens by being used for all sorts of payments in the country and for completing payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Anti-crisis measures, pensions and salaries would be legitimate funding targets, he said.
The BDB said in a statement that a reduction of its capital would require the approval of all its creditors, including the European Investment Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank, KfW, and other development banks, and would take months. The BDB said the proposed capital reduction, without prior coordination with the bank’s management and in the absence of an approved regular state budget in Bulgaria for 2026, would have six direct effects. Among these, the Bank listed a limited capacity to make payments under the municipal investment programme; difficulties in supporting the government’s anti-crisis measures related to disrupted supply chains and rising fuel prices; and risking the absorption of EUR 246.6 million in EU funding under the national Recovery and Resilience Plan, intended for home retrofitting and provided to the Bank for management directly by the European Commission. EUR 1.4 Bln in Unused Capital to Be Withdrawn from Bulgarian Development Bank 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-22 17:45:02 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law