The European Investment Bank (EIB) would funnel 700 million euros in aiding the Bulgarian government provide the budgetary financing under the seven Bulgarian operational programmes, sources from the Cabinet press office said on Thursday.

At its regular session, the Cabinet approved a project, under which the EIB would support the procurement of financing under the Transport, Regional Development, Environment, Development of Bulgarian Economy's Competitiveness, HR Development, Administrative Capacity and Technical Support programmes.

The financing would enter the central budget and be available over a 25-year period and a seven-year grace period. The funds would be distributed in 20 tranches at most and the minimum sum would be at least 30 million euros.

The EIB thus joins the pool of international financial donors, Deputy Regional Development Minister Dimcho Mihalevski was quoted by mediapool.bg as saying. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) had already entered the so-called Flag Fund, which primarily caters to infrastructure projects.