09.05.2014

The work of the Fiscal control Directorate is assessed positively by the business as a step towards addressing the illegal economy and ensuring equal competitive opportunities for Bulgarian producers and foreign importers. This is what Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov said after a meeting with the business community in Razgrad where together with the management of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) presented its new products. Minister Chobanov added that in recent years there had been this paradox of making local producers feel not sufficiently comfortable on the Bulgarian market under the influence of this unfair competition. He specified that without triggering unnecessary protectionist attitude, the fiscal control rules had contributed to improving the business climate, which had already been seen by the companies. The Minister also noted that the business had expressed the desire to have this measure operational and further developed. According to Minister Chobanov, companies country-wide accept the new BDB products very well as the Bank gives new lending opportunities without competing with the other commercial banks and covers niches in which they are not sufficiently active.

In reply to a question, the Minister of Finance said that domestic savings deposits increased, which, according to him, was a positive trend in the long run. He specified that the role of the banking system was to turn those savings into investment, to grant credits to business projects and to enable the further development of the economy. According to Minister Chobanov, the period of deflation in which the country had fallen was not due to the lack of economic activity but to a reduction in the administrative prices and to external factors. "The Government has also paid attention to the vulnerable groups and has shown that the state could care for them by increasing a number of social payments, i.e. child allowances, benefits for disabled children, support to first-graders, etc.", he added. The most important thing, however, is to turn savings into investment, said Minister Chobanov and added that we there had already been some positive signals since the end of last year and the beginning of this one. The business climate has improved and consumer trust has reached its levels of 2007. This stable income environment and the more favourable business climate will result in greater people's trust in creating new jobs and in more opportunities for higher consumption, he said.

Asked about the road infrastructure in the region of Razgrad, Minister Chobanov said that it was possible to think of a project within the Public Investment Programme that would be eligible to the Programme. As roads are relatively fastest to be realised, it is possible, given there are sufficient free resources after September of this year, to grant additional funds to the Road Infrastructure Agency under the Public Investment Programme.