The Government has agreed that the Managing Authority of the Operational Program for Food and/or Basic Material Assistance from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived Persons in Bulgaria for the period 2014-2020 shall sign contracts for provision of grants amounting to 11, 17 percent above the set budget of the operational program in connection with the need to finance measures and activities to support the most deprived persons in the crisis caused by COVID-19.

Thus, an additional 26,941,126 BGN will be provided, which will enable the program for providing hot lunch to continue and reach more individuals through the inclusion of additional municipalities. The funds will be provided under the EC initiative to overcome the consequences of the crisis – the REACT-EU mechanism.

On November 23, the Government authorised the Managing Authority of the Operational Program for Food to enter into grant agreements of up to 5 percent above its budget. With this decision, 12,058,874 BGN were provided, which ensured the provision of hot lunches for at least 50,000 persons in need within the period from January 1 to April 27, 2021.