Debts of Bulgaria's NEK Grew by a Quarter in 2013

Financial disputes between the NEK and the power distributors were among the consequences of the debt accumulated by the state-owned electricity company. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEK) owed 24% more at the end of 2013 than it did the previous year.

As of December 2013, its debt reached BGN 3.2 B (EUR 1.6 B), according to the newspaper Kapital Daily, which cites official data provided by the company.

Just in the second half of the previous year, its commercial liabilities increased by BGN 200 M to reach a total of BGN 817.5 M.

The loss declared for the same year amounted to BGN 334.2 M, which was 3.5 times as much as in 2012.

Data released by NEK comes a few weeks after the Economy Committee at Bulgaria's Parliament demanded that the company provide up-to-date information on its debt.

NEK has been involved in a scandal with power distributors operating in Bulgaria over the past months, with both sides claiming the other side owes them hundreds of millions of BGN.

Bulgarian government and opposition representatives have recently embroiled themselves in a dispute over the situation at NEK, which some experts suggest is on the brink of bankruptcy.

Center-right opposition party GERB has accused the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party of mismanaging the energy sector and leading it to financial turmoil, whereas the Economy Minister Dragomir Stoynev has cited data showing that the liabilities of NEK have increased the most between January 2011 and end-June 2013.

GERB was in power in Bulgaria until February last year.

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