Bulgaria’s Cibank Gets EBRD Loan for Sustainable Energy Investments

The EBRD, owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, was created in 1991 to invest in former communist countries to help them transform their economies. File photo

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced it has provided a EUR 2 M loan to Bulgaria's Cibank in support of energy investments in the country.

Cibank will use the funds to extend loans to individuals, households and associations of apartment owners for energy efficiency investments.

The loan comes under the Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line (REECL) - an EBRD programme developed to support Bulgarian residents undertaking energy efficiency investments.

The first REECL framework was launched in 2005, with loans of EUR 50 M to Bulgarian banks, and was then expanded with a further EUR 40 M in loans in 2011.

CIBANK - a part of Belgium's KBC Group - received the first loan of EUR 5 M under the program in March 2012, which it on-lent to 3,400 Bulgarian households.

The new EUR 2 M facility will again be used to address the huge pent-up demand for energy efficiency improvements in Bulgaria.

More than 42,000 small-scale residential energy efficiency projects have been implemented using REECL resources.

Energy-saving measures funded by the credit line include replacing windows, insulating exterior walls and roofs, and installing heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and high-efficiency gas and biomass boilers.

The EBRD credit line is complemented by grant funding from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning and Support Fund (KIDSF).

To date, the EBRD has financed over 200 projects in Bulgaria, with a total volume of more than EUR 8.5 B.

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