Balgarianovinite.com Caretaker Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski explained that the caretaker Cabinet had wanted the elections to pass before taking the decision to reduce the capital of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), so that the topic would become “political football” if it had been announced before the vote. He said this in response to a question during a joint press conference with caretaker Regional Development Minister Nikolay Naydenov on the results of the implementation of the Investment Programme for Municipal Projects.
The Government approved the withdrawal of EUR 1.4 billion in unused capital from the 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.
Klisurski commented that the caretaker Government is still in office and all its acts are valid. “The answer is very simple – we wanted the elections to pass and we did it at the first meeting of the Cabinet immediately after the elections. If we had done it before the elections, it would have turned into ‘a political football’, that is the only reason,” Klisurski said regarding the timing of the decision on the BDB.
Klisurski also noted that the State is the sole owner of the capital of the BDB and it disposes of that capital. “The first step in reducing the capital was this decision of the Cabinet on Wednesday. The second step, which is a mandatory condition, is approval by the Bulgarian National Bank and, respectively, the European Central Bank – this is a process that must take place,” the Minister said. He added that the State, as the owner of the capital, has the full right to increase or decrease the capital as it sees fit. “I am confident that the BNB as regulator and the ECB will confirm the capital adequacy of the BDB even after the capital reduction and will approve it,” Klisurski said.
The future Government also has the full right to change the capital of the bank and of other commercial companies in which the State has 100% ownership, as it sees fit, the Minister also said.
In response to a question about the information he had provided that EUR 80 million, approved by the Regional Development Ministry under municipal applications, are currently in the process of being disbursed by the BDB from the EUR 460 million set out in the extension budget for the Investment Programme for Municipal Projects, Klisurski expressed confidence that the bank will pay them out. He noted that the BDB received a capital increase and injection in January of EUR 600 million, while the funds approved in the budget for disbursement to municipalities amount to EUR 460 million, meaning the bank has EUR 140 million more capital than it needs for the entire amount approved under the Municipal Investment Programme. The Minister also said that last year the BDB received a EUR 2 billion capital increase.
“On Wednesday, the Cabinet adopted a decision to reduce the capital of the BDB by EUR 1.4 billion, meaning that at present the BDB remains with EUR 600 million more capital than at the same time last year. At that time, the capital of the BDB was around EUR 600 million. Currently, after the reduction, the capital stands at EUR 1.2 billion, meaning the BDB still has double the capital compared to last year,” Klisurski said. He added that with an effective capital increase of EUR 600 million, only EUR 460 million are the funds the BDB must disburse under the municipal programme. Therefore, the BDB not only has no shortage of funds, but has EUR 140 million more than the extension budget has approved for the municipal investment programme, the Minister said.
Regarding the funds under the Programme in the future regular budget, Klisurski commented that the draft budget will be prepared by the future Government. He noted that the caretaker Government has around two weeks of work remaining. Finance Minister Says Caretaker Cabinet Waited for Elections to Reduce BDB Capital to Avoid Turning Topic into “Political Football” 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-24 17:24:16 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