Almost 17% of Bulgarians live in deprivation. This is shown by Eurostat data. The topic was commented on by the former Minister of Labor and Social Policy Lidiya Shuleva and the lecturer of macroeconomics Shteryu Nozharov in ”Your Day” on NOVA NEWS.
Shuleva said that Bulgarians are increasingly comparing themselves to a high standard, which requires the family to go on vacation every year, to have a personal car, to have dinner in a restaurant at least once a month, etc. According to her, before Bulgaria's accession to the EU, 88.7% of Bulgarians lived without the necessary quality food, and in a new study this percentage is 33%.
She pointed out that more work needs to be done on these issues, but what has been achieved over the years is not small.
Nozharov said that the shadow economy distorts the data, and also leads to less income from insurance and taxes with which to implement social policies.
He added that Bulgaria has unbalanced regional development - areas are formed that are poorer than others. According to him, this is due to the fact that the state does not form balanced investment flows and the direction of transport corridors. He added that another reason for this is the large number of jobs with low added value.
According to Nozharov, there is a lack of reforms in some sectors, such as energy, which generates pressure on people with the lowest incomes. He also emphasized that education is also a factor, since unemployment among people with low education is higher.
Nozharov was categorical that social benefits should go where there is a real need.
Shuleva explained that about 100 thousand people will be below the poverty line. She added that the increase in this line is good news, since there will be indexation of the numbers and the number of these people is expected to decrease.
The former minister pointed out that there are nearly 150 thousand young people in the country who neither study nor work. She asked how long such people will be on the back of the state. Shuleva added that according to the study, almost 40% of people at risk of poverty have no or very low education.
Nozharov said that this year we will end with a 3% deficit. He pointed out that the new budget should be based on the principle of "program budgeting - what we put in and what comes out", adding that there are many institutions that are not doing their job and gave an example of the six agencies responsible for road traffic.
Shuleva said that the budget should be optimized and attention should be paid to the administration, which, against the backdrop of a decreasing population, is constantly increasing. She added that we are already in a debt spiral.