Brussels, 27 May 1997 (RFE/RL) - The European Commission has announced proposals for balance-of-payments loans to Bulgaria and (The Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia. Our Brussels correspondent reports the loans are in the amount of about $300 million for Bulgaria and about $60 million for Macedonia.
A Commission statement yesterday said the loan for Bulgaria will complement loans being made by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and some bi-lateral donors in the context of Bulgaria's stabilization-and-structural-adjustment program. The EU says the purpose of the loan to Sofia is to secure external funding needed to ensure adequate financing for the new Government's program of economic reform.
For Macedonia, the Commission says the purpose of its loan is to help to ease the country's external financing problems. This is the first substantial EU loan to Macedonia.