Bulgaria Asked to Repay 255.6 Mln Euro Loan for Belene N-plant Project
An unnamed French bank has asked Bulgaria to start repaying a 500 million lev ($333.5 million/255.6 million euro) loan extended for the Belene nuclear power project, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Thursday.
The loan, taken out by the previous government, is due to be repaid in May 2012, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) said.
"The money was taken and spent although there had been no agreement for the construction of Belene or clarity that the facility will be built at all," BTA cited the prime minister as saying.
He also said that in the current situation, the government cannot afford funding for Belene and described as a daunting predicament the need to repay the loan because of its size and its possible implications for the country's budget.