20.03.2014

"138 administrative regimes have been alleviated or are being alleviated. Meetings with businesses in the regions jointly with the Bulgarian Development Bank help us gather information on the other regimes that need to be changed". This is what Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov said after the meeting with the businesses in the municipality of Yambol which had been organized to present to the companies the possibilities and the products offered by the Bulgarian Development Bank. He added that the decrease of the administrative burden would reduce the costs incurred by businesses in terms of time and money resulting in greater efficiency. Local authorities should also make efforts in this regard.

The Minister said that the business climate in the middle of 2013 was destructed and there was no trust in the state. One of the first measures taken was the timely refund of VAT by the order of submission of requests, which helped the businesses as they use these funds as turnover funds. Mr. Chobanov pointed out that economic growth was achieved by the faster turnover of funds. This could be seen from the data showing that there was a growth of 1.6% year-on-year in Q4 of 2013. The Minister of Finance reminded of the 2014 forecasts of a growth of 1.8% but the data about acceleration in the second half of 2013 promise well for an upward trend. He said that he expected a growth of slightly over 2% for 2014.

The purpose of the Bulgarian Development Bank, which has considerable financial resource, is not to compete with the other banks but to be used as an instrument for conducting economic policies. According to Minister Chobanov it should reach some of the undeveloped market niches, such as start-ups. At the meeting the companies showed great interest in the instruments offered by the Bulgarian Development Bank as well as in the eligible parties under the Bank's export instruments. The Finance Minister added that the Government focused on the development of the regions through the Growth and Sustainable Development of the Regions Public Investment Programme. The Ministry of Finance maintains continues contacts with mayors in order to ensure the absorption of funds. He reminded that the projects under the programme would be reviewed in the middle of the year. Those that have not launched public procurement procedures or would not be implemented by the end of the year would be terminated, said Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov.