More than 1.4bn euros of capital in Bulgaria's state-owned Bulgarian Bank for Development and Reconstruction is frozen right now, deputy prime minister and economy minister Alexander Pulev says. No one can use the money. He also said the bank will borrow more than 1bn euros on foreign markets to fund Bulgarian businesses. See our original report: Pulev: BDB capital to rise by over 1bn euros with no money from the budget.

"Literally, this money is somewhere in the stratosphere and no one can use it," Pulev told BNT's show "By the World and at Home". He said the process of cutting the bank's capital has caused chaos, leaving the funds stuck "in a vacuum" — out of reach for both the finance ministry and the bank itself.

The bank's capital was raised by 4bn levs in November 2025, under a decision by Rosen Zhelyazkov's government. Part of that money was still unused by April this year, so caretaker finance minister Georgi Klisurski decided to send the unspent funds back to the state budget. The bank had already warned at the time that returning the money would take months.

Pulev said officials are working on a way to free up the funds. "The state will firmly keep its controlling role and its stake in the bank," he said, adding that long-term lending will be a priority.

The money the bank raises abroad will go to farmers, small businesses, municipalities and manufacturers. The bank plans to set up new funding tools to help them.

Pulev also introduced the bank's new supervisory board. Delyana Ivanova stays on as chair and is the only member from the previous board to keep her seat. The new board includes bankers Ivan Kupov and Ivan Raychkov, along with Daniel Berg, a former director for Bulgaria at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Ivanova said programmes to help farmers team up, and support for small and medium-sized firms, will continue. To reach more people, that support increasingly runs through guarantee schemes with commercial banks.