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.
(source: HBCB)