The procedure on the sale of the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company (BTC) was transparent, said Olivie Descamp, the Southeast Europe and the Caucasus director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). There is a winner and therefore no reasons exist for not signing the deal, he stated, putting special emphasis on the damage of the image of the country. EBRD has brought out its annual report for Bulgaria, where it states that it does not consider the growing current account deficit alarming. The report and EBRD’s strategy for Bulgaria were presented to the finance minister Mr. Milen Velchev and the central bank governor Mr. Ivan Iskrov. EBRD consultants think that the privatisation process should be speeded up. Decsamp said that EBRD has invested some EUR 784M in Bulgaria in the last 18 months, mainly in the energy and banking sector. The bank estimates the progress of the reforms in Bulgaria as highly positive. Its forecast for the economic growth in 2004 is 4.5% and 5% in 2005. The report finds that the unemployment rate has dropped to 12 or 13%. EBRD develops in cooperation with the EU institutions a new type of loans for the agricultural sector and a product designed to improve the utilization of the ISPA credits. New lending lines will be developed for the energy sector. After the BTC’s sale is over EBRD will provide long-term loans to it future owners. It will keep on lending credit lines to four Bulgarian Banks aiming at small and medium size enterprises. The banking and non-banking financial sectors, improvement of the energy efficiency, municipalities and environment infrastructure are also among EBRD’s priorities for Bulgaria.