Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) will pay EUR 15 million under a loan from the German government-owned development bank KfW by the end of the year. This was announced at meeting in Berlin between Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and Ernst Burgbacher, Parliamentary State Secretary of Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. First Germany insisted on having all overdue debts of EUR 24 million repaid by the end of the year.

“We found the company in a very poor condition with BGN 800 million in debts and unable to pay its liabilities. Amid a strike we are trying to heal the company and implement the necessary radical reforms to stabilize the company,” Moskovski said at the meeting.
According to him the government makes everything possible to help the state-run company repay its loans. He told Ernst Burgbacher that the government planned to offer BDZ’s cargo subsidiary for privatization and expected keen interest in the sale.The other option is to ensure money under the World Bank loan, which will be signed in January 2012 after the government sets the railway transport reforms into operation.

“I hope Bulgaria will repay part of its overdue debts, because otherwise the German budget will face problems,” said Burgbacher. If BDZ repays some of its EUR 24 million debts, Germany is ready to reconsider the repayment plan, he added.