1. Multi-country Workshop Implementation of SME Initiative
Ministry of Economic of the Republic of Bulgaria
Bucharest, Romania
11-12 July 2017

2. SME Initiative Bulgaria - Basics
Dedicated ERDF funding: EUR 102 mln
Guarantee instrument option
Previous experience with similar instrument (EIF) in
Existence of similar instrument within the OP (ex-ante assessment)
Current FEI framework in Bulgaria and SME Initiative

3. SME Initiative Bulgaria - Timeline
June 2015
Decision to implement SMEI in BG;
Amendment of OPIC;
Submitting OPSMEI to the EC
October 2015
Approval of OPSMEI by EC;
Commencing negotiations with EIF
March 2016
Signing of the FuA and IcA;
Ratification of the FuA and IcA
May 2016
Announcing the call for selection of FI
September 2016
Signing Pledge Agreement for the Treasury Account;
Ratification of the Pledge Agreement
October 2016
Payment request;
100% of the budget ensured
November 2016
Selection of Fis completed;
Implementation of SMEI

4. Selection process
EIF received 14 applications from Financial Intermediaries with an overall SME Initiative guarantee requests consisting of EUR 780m. The SME Initiative Bulgaria facility was oversubscribed by 28%.
Following extensive due diligence processes EIF services signed 5 Operational Agreements in November In December, 2016 additional 5 Operational agreements were signed.
By signing 10 Operational Agreements EIF fulfilled the objective set in the Implementation Strategy to achieve a widespread distribution of the SME Initiative guarantee across the Bulgarian financial sector.

5. List of selected Financial Intermediaries

6. SME Initiative implementation indicators
Result indicators (2023)
% of the companies that have successfully received support through banking loan: 70% -> 73%
Bulgarian SME performance (productivity): 16,8% -> 19,3%
Implementation indicators (2023)
Total size of the disbursed loans by the FIs within the SME Initiative portfolio – EUR 408 mln
Number of supported SMEs – 2 816
Minimum Leverage – 4х

7. Implementation update EIF statistics as of 31st March, 2017
Highlights (till Q1 2017)
Originated as of 31 March, 2017
60m
Interest rate2
3.4%
Collateralization level1
25%
SMEs supported
588
Target vol: EUR 608m
2nd March, 2016:
Mandate signature
Dec, 2016: another 5 agreements with Fis signed
Nov, 2016: 5 agreements with FIs signed
1.1%
2016
2017
2018
2019
9.73%
31st Dec
31st March

8. Note: As of 31st of March, 2017

9. Current issues Overdrafts exclusion; Amendments of the FuA:
Horizon 2020
Active treasury management
Size of the market and coordination with other mechanism

10. “One directions, many opportunities”
Thank you
for
your attention