Bulgaria Belene Nuclear Power Plant Loan to Be Investigated

The Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, will approach the Prosecutor's Office over the loan the National Electric Company has taken to finance the Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

The former Socialist government hired in 2007 BNP Paribas SA, France's largest bank by market value, to arrange a EUR 250 M loan to help fund construction of a EUR 4 B nuclear power plant at the Danube river town of Belene.

NEK's poor results that came in the wake of a fall in power consumption however forced it to breach the conditions on the loan, making it callable.

In Borisov's words, the "incompetence" of the former Energy Minister, Petar Dimitrov, turned the loan from lucrative to callable, and now the country has to either return the money or to negotiate its extension, which will cost BGN 20 M a year.