“I have been to your studio many times over the years and this year and I have followed the following thesis - entering the eurozone has nothing to do with higher inflation in Bulgaria. In March, there was higher inflation because of the war in the Middle East, not because of the eurozone. Several months followed, even with deflation, and seasonally. The latest numbers I have seen are that for the year, for the last 12 months, inflation is 4% or something. Bulgaria cannot be afraid of inflation of 4-5%. We have had years with hundreds or tens of percent, including recently“. This was commented on bTV by Nikolay Vassilev, a financier and former Minister of Economy.
„My thesis is that Bulgaria has many problems, but inflation is not one of them. When you are the poorest country in the EU, you have more or less the highest income growth for many years. Many years. Inflation cannot be zero and should not be zero“, he said.
„If we want hairdressers to receive Swiss salaries, can they both receive higher salaries and keep their prices without increasing? This is impossible.
The same goes for all other services. What about waiters, taxi drivers, builders? These are normal economic processes, but I would like us not to be scared by minor problems“, commented Nikolay Vassilev.
“I believe in the market economy, not in state communism. For me, the state, in a normal economic situation that we have at the moment, has no economic growth, no deficits, no war in Bulgaria, there is an open European and global market for all goods and services.
There are no reasons, no reasons - economic or otherwise - for the state to interfere and control prices. We do not live in state communism like 40 years ago. This is not the state's job.
I will tell you a little about what I think the state should do. But raising the prices of hotels and any other services and goods is normal market behavior, it is not criminal," commented Nikolay Vassilev.