BOZHIDAR DANEV: BULGARIA’S 2015 BUDGET FALLS SHORT OF PROMISED REFORMS

Bulgaria’s 2015 draft budget is not a budget of reform, according to Bozhidar Danev, Chair of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA).

In a Friday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, he declared that the BIA was worried by the fact that the 2015 draft Budget bill did not envisage the reforms pledged in the program declaration of the parliamentary majority and the government.

“Apart from that, we are worried by the conservative quality of budget forecasts in 2016-2017. If reforms fail to happen in the first year, experience shows that usually governments are not as brave as to conduct these reforms later,” Danev commented.

He added that the BIA was firmly opposed to the proposal of trade unions for an increase in the monthly minimum wage.

“Market conditions are wonderful in Bulgaria at the moment. We expect much bigger growth than politicians mention. The growth forecast for 2015 is far too modest, at 0.8%, given that in the first nine months we have had a GDP growth of 1.6%. Consumption has increased substantially, which means that we are stepping on an economy which is moving and we have to keep up the pace. And we want this pace to collapse to the rate of 0.8% all of a sudden,” Danev remarked.

He argued that the 10% cut in public administration wage costs would not really reduce the number of public officials, adding that the administrative staff had to be downsized by 10 000.

Danev also reminded that the BIA was opposed to the merger of the National Revenue Agency and the Customs Agency.