The administration can easily be reduced by up to 30 thousand people. This was said in the program “This Saturday“ financier and former Minister of Economy Nikolay Vassilev.
“During the mandate of the triple coalition, we laid off 17 thousand people and I guarantee you that nothing was missing. On the contrary - the administration worked better. Now there are 12 thousand unfilled positions,” he explained.
“Any such state-communist measures, in which the state interferes in the market economy in a wrong way, do not give the results that society expects“, commented Vassilev.
He recalled that since 2021 there have been three regular governments. “All three dealt with similar issues. Even some economic ministers mainly dealt with this. And their role is completely different“.
“Last year, before the introduction of the euro, there were again measures related to the CPC, CPC, laws, penalties, sanctions. We have been dealing with this issue for several years and I always say that the measures do not work. We will comment again in a year“, he explained.
According to Vassilev, this is a waste of society's time with less important topics and a omission of the big issues that the nation should be dealing with.
“One of the reasons for the high inflation is the extremely wasteful and incorrect budget policy over the last 5 years. The state spends an enormous amount – I believe that about 20 billion euros more in expenses have been accumulated than should have been. This is the main driver of inflation“, he commented.
According to Vassilev, the second reason is global processes – wars and the price of oil. “But I said then that we would not see an oil price of 200 dollars, as was claimed. Nothing like that happened. Even now, other countries export huge amounts of oil, and the price is lower than then“.
“The third is a positive reason – the strong growth of incomes. The problem is not whether inflation is 2, 3 or 6 or so percent, but how to make Bulgarian citizens get richer faster and have higher incomes. The state should help not through subsidies for everyone, but only those who need it“, stressed Vassilev.
According to him, the policies of state intervention in the private sector and the market economy are mostly a waste of time and lead to the wrong results.
“There is no deficit of anything in the state. We have no war. If aliens land, like in the movies, and then the economy stops, the state can freeze prices. But we do not have such a case. There is no need for the state to tell anyone in a store or hair salon what price to sell at“, added Vassilev.
Vassilev explained that if the state eliminates budget deficits, one of the fuels of inflation will be eliminated. “If it reduces the public sector significantly, it will also reduce pressure on the market. The state should deal with competition, investment and reducing regulations, and not complicate the life of the private sector“.
According to him, the state is mainly concerned with the wrong things.
“The number of vacant positions is about 12 thousand - these are not living people. What prevented the last 11 or 15 governments from laying them off? There is no need for philosophers, there is a need for people who act. If the government wants to, it can lay off a lot of people. If he doesn't want to - he's talking nonsense“, he commented.
According to him, there are still about 10 thousand people in the entire public sector. “Currently, there are too many state universities. I think there should be significantly fewer. With a decreasing population in Bulgaria over the past 30 years, the number of universities has been increasing“, explained Vassilev.
According to him, the entire public sector needs to be optimized, and no one is doing anything.