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Today, at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Fund of Funds signed its first two agreements with financial intermediaries Microfund AD for BGN 2 million and SIS Credit AD for BGN 1.4 million. The funds are provided under the Human Resources Development Operational Programme 2014-2020 and are the first financial engineering schemes implemented during this programming period.

"These agreements open the opportunity to materialise entrepreneurial ideas for starting a new business under the Human Resources Development Operational Programme," Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Zornitsa Rusinova said.

She pointed out that as of January 2018, BGN 3.4 million. will be available to many people in Bulgaria who have good ideas, but cannot finance them. Deputy Minister Rusinova stressed that the main goal is to support entrepreneurial Bulgarians who have ideas but because of lack of experience, assets and liquidity of the enterprises   do not have access to credit resources from banks.The aim is also to support young unemployed Bulgarians, especially if they are in regions with high unemployment across the country, where the municipality is often the only employer. "We believe that this would be a good tool to open jobs," the Deputy Minister said and reminded that more than 200 social enterprises were supported during the last programming period, and more than 1,000 start-ups received micro-grants under the project "Support for Entrepreneurial Bulgarians".

The credits target start-ups and social enterprises as well as enterprises created by people who are unemployed for more than 6 months, disabled persons and young people up to 29 years of age. The amount of the loans will be from BGN 5,000 to BGN 48,895, and the repayment term of the loans is up to 10 years with the option of a 2-year grace period. The interest rate for microcredit to final recipients is competitive, ranging between 2.9% and 7.2%, because the HRD OP funds have zero interest rates and private co-financing provided by financial intermediaries accounts for 20% or 30% of the loan. The credit instruments are expected to be available at the beginning of next year. In the coming year entrepreneurs will be also offered consultancy services that will help future entrepreneurs in business planning, providing a variety of services and training. To this end, the HRD OP has allocated BGN 5 million and 173 projects are under evaluation.

The Human Resources Development Operational Programme reports significant progress in implementation, with 62% of the programme already open for application to municipalities, non-governmental organisations and employers, 52% have been negotiated and 15% have already been reimbursed by the European Commission. Since the launch, over 180,000 people have benefited from the various measures of the European Social Fund.