The Board of the International Investment Bank endorsed opening a credit line to the Bulgarian Bank of Development for the support of small and mid-sized businesses of Bulgaria. The total bank credit will amount to EUR 20 million. The loan will be provided for a term of seven years. In addition to financing end-use borrowers, the BBD can give loans to the Bulgarian commercial banks to fund similar projects.

The credit line is a move forward towards the realization of the Cooperation Agreement, signed between the IIB and the Bulgarian Bank of Development in September 2012. The document implies coordinating the banks' efforts to use the resources more efficiently and support promising business-projects in Bulgaria and in the member states.

The decision to open a credit line to the Bulgarian Bank of Development reflects the new approach of the IIB towards its activities on the member states' markets, which is based on cooperation with national banks of development and import-export banks as well as the use of the agency principle in the selection of the projects to be financed. The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance recommended the Bulgarian Bank of Development for the role of a chief partner of the IIB in the similar programs.