China Development Bank provides EUR 300 million loan to the Bulgarian Development Bank to support Bulgarian businesses (Linked to Record ID#66486)

Project narrative

On July 6, 2018, during the Seventh Annual Meeting of China's and Central and Eastern Europe's (CEE)'s Heads of Governments under the 16+1 framework, China Development Bank (CDB) and the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) signed an EUR 1.5 billion (~$1.8 billion USD) financial cooperation framework agreement. The framework agreement, which is captured via Record ID#66486, provided guidelines for EUR 1.5 billion worth of financial cooperation between BDB and CDB for five years under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). EUR 1 billion was allocated for joint financing, project financing, joint equity investment funds, syndicated lending, and other projects of mutual interest within the BRI as agreed upon by BDB and CDB. EUR 500 million was allocated for bilateral co-financing for BDB for BRI projects and projects in line with BDB's strategy, including (but not limited to) support for the energy, communications, transportation, and agricultural sectors, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Then, on December 13, 2018, BDB and CDB signed an EUR 300 million loan agreement, which served as the first tranche disbursed under this financial cooperation framework agreement. The proceeds of the EUR 300 million loan (captured via Record ID#88314) were to be used by BDB for on-lending to support Bulgarian businesses. The loan carried the following borrowing terms: a maturity period of 10 years and an annual interest rate of 6-Month EURIBOR rate plus an unspecified margin. As of December 31, 2020, the loan had achieved a 100% disbursement rate and its (principal) amount outstanding was EUR 296,250,000. The loan's (principal) amount outstanding was EUR EUR 292,500,000 as of December 31, 2021, EUR 285,000,00 as of December 31, 2022, and EUR 227,500,000 as of December 31, 2023.