"I am skeptical when I hear that someone will fight high prices. When you say anti-inflationary policy and fight prices - these are different things. Strengthening the repressive part in order to command prices is ridiculous", warned financier Lyubomir Datsov, a member of the Fiscal Council, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
"Currently, changes are being agreed upon that give the criminal authorities more rights to higher fines. But this is at the expense of white business. What they can do is create additional problems. I don't know how it doesn't occur to them that if they want to improve - they need to touch where the deviations are, including the gray sector. Everyone is practicing on the backs of bright business, on the people who bear the burden. I am skeptical if they continue with these narratives that they can do anything", explained Datsov.
In "Nedelya 150" he commented on the statement of PB deputies Petar Vitanov and Slavi Vassilev, who claim that the budget deficit will be 7%. Acting Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski claims that the deficit for April is 0:
"By April, for the month itself, they come out 0%. But, if we compare with the last 10 years, the deficit for April alone has varied from 200 million to 400 million euros. Currently, historically, the deficit for April deviates significantly and this result is not good. For the first quarter, the deficit on a quarterly basis is 5.8% of GDP. It is not always correct when you reflect a quarterly deficit to annual GDP, because it does not give the true value."
Once again, Lyubomir Datsov said that the 2026 budget is not exactly a prolongation, because it includes a 5% salary increase and also provides for an increase in pensions:
"Let's say that this prolongation budget is real, I don't know exactly what they will accept, because the prolongation budget by definition must comply with the law on public finances. These requests were modified in the National Assembly and we have a budget with changed parameters - increased salaries by 5%, an increase provided for pensions, increased capital expenditures. And the deficit is due to the fact that municipalities will pay off projects in the first quarter the amount they spend on an annual basis."
According to Datsov, this shows how big the deficit is and there are almost no buffers to make policy. And he commented that a 16 billion euro fiscal reserve means that the state is not obliged to take out a loan.
"Bulgaria has an obligation for this year's net expenditures to grow by no more than 4.5%. Maybe it's not a bad thing for people who make decisions to read what we have committed ourselves to as a state and what our obligations are. And Bulgaria violated the restrictions for the second year. If the first 2 years exceed the budget growth, there must be compensation in the second two. Unfortunately, we need to think about what is being done with the budget in the direction of optimization and launching structural reforms. It would be good if we put together a real package to reform the public package with an emphasis on the real economy."
The financier pointed out that currently there are 90,000 more people in the public sector than in 2005, and it is now up to those in power to make a difficult decision.
"The good solution for making a consolidation to shrink the budget is to make structural reforms in the expenditure side. If they give up, the other option is to raise taxes," Datsov warned.