More than BGN 3.732 million of the budget is earmarked for co-financing investments from the Recovery and Resilience Plan

What is the Recovery and Resilience Plan?

The Recovery and Resilience Facility is part of the Next Generation EU (2021-2024) instrument of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). For programming purposes, Member States prepare National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRP) as an annex to their National Reform Programmes.

The main objective of the Recovery and Resilience Plan is to facilitate economic and social recovery from the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, a set of clustered measures and reforms have been designed that are expected to significantly contribute to the economy’s recovery and facilitate its future growth. The RRP also lays the foundations for a green and digital transformation of the economy.

The Council of Ministers has decided to allocate more than BGN 3.732 million from the budget, which will be made available as additional funds for national public co-financing of the activities of six investments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plans. This will cover the cost of value-added tax, which is not recoverable through a tax credit under the Value-Added Tax Act.

Which programmes will benefit from the additional funding?

Additional financial resources need to be allocated to several areas – six programs in total where Recovery and Sustainability Plan investments have been made.

The first program is under the Department of Education’s Youth Centers portfolio.

Three of the programs that will benefit from the additional funding are in the portfolio of the Department of Innovation and Growth. The programs are as follows: ‘The Programme for Accelerating Economic Recovery and Transformation through Research and Innovation’, ‘The Programme for Public Support for the Development of Industrial Areas, Parks, and Similar Territories and Attracting Investment’, and ‘The Economic Transformation Programme’.

The management of the “Green Mobility – Pilot Scheme to support sustainable urban mobility” is entrusted to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

The National Culture Fund will receive the funding for the last program “Development of the cultural and creative sectors”, the National Culture Fund will receive the funding.

The Government expects that the provision of additional national public co-financing will contribute to the achievement of the investment targets and the fulfillment of Bulgaria’s commitments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.