31.01.2014

\"When the industries of the Bulgarian and of the global economies that contribute greatest to economic growth and the industries with potential for future development are discussed we should have in mind the world economic development and first and foremost the recovery of EU Member States that have direct impact on Bulgarian exports and on the country\'s GDP\", Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov stated at the opening of the International Economic Conference on Bulgaria and the World in Development: the Industries of Growth, organized by Manager magazine. According to him it is obvious that the pre-crisis model of economy development is not applicable in short-term or long-term perspective. The condition of international financial markets hardly presumes high volume of direct foreign investments, but Minister Chobanov is confident that the ambition of the Government is to facilitate growth and to achieve a more sustainable development model. Petar Chobanov noted that in the last years the factor driving the country\'s economic growth were exports.

According to the Finance Minister the role of the state is not to foster individual industries, but to create a better business environment for accelerated growth to be felt in all sectors of the economy. Without structural reforms the country would not be able to return to sustainable and considerably higher than the present economic growth, he is convinced.

Before the guests of the forum he presented part of the measures designed to address this priority - wide range of policies in support of the businesses, encouragement of investment activities, limitation of the administrative burden, different tools in support of start-ups and innovative enterprises. \"With the 2014 budget we endeavour to improve the business environment, to maintain the tax burden, not to put addition burden on the businesses, as one of the most important and urgent measures that we have already implemented is to recover the business environment and establish the state as an upright and reliable partner of the businesses\", he added. Local governments also have an important role in the improvement of the administrative environment for the businesses and the Government is in an open dialogue with them for revocation or mitigation of a number of licensing regimes that hinder the development of business activities.

The Minister reminded that the policies being implemented, including through the budget, were focused on ensuring a more sustainable growth model and that involved paying equal attention to demand and supply. \"I think that with the budget we have succeeded in addressing major supply factors such as the physical, human capital and the technology\", stated he. The Public Investment Programme \"Growth and Sustainable Development of the Regions\" has yet another very important objective - to expand the growth base. The Minister said that the Programme provided certain resources to the regions which would help generating economic activity and employment. \"We plan this Programme to continue in the coming years, to create sustainability in time and to enable the financing of longer term projects. We attach also an important role to the BDB which will focus on SMEs\", Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov announced.