Georgi Ganev: Technologically, there is no way for Budget 2022 to be adopted by the end of the year

Technologically, there is no way for Budget 2022 to be adopted by the end of the year. Therefore, work will be done to adopt the annual budget framework by the end of January 2022, and for January next year the rule 1/12 of Budget 2021 will apply. This was said in the morning block of BNT by the economist and future MP from Democratic Bulgaria in 47 the National Assembly, which participates in the discussions on forming a coalition government on the topics of economy and finance.

Ganev clarified that Budget 2022 is emerging as a crisis due to the pandemic and the introduced restrictions. According to Georgi Ganev, the new government will certainly have to use the draft budget prepared by the caretaker cabinet as a basis.

The plan-account of the state will be in line with the changes in the structure of the executive power, and as an example Ganev pointed out the appointment of a Deputy Prime Minister for Climate and the establishment of a Ministry of Economy and Innovation.

According to the economist, the negotiations expressed the will for stricter control of public spending, as currently for every lev spent by the state, Bulgarians receive much less than lev public services.

Criteria are being considered to measure the effectiveness of social policies. Thus, if they do not achieve their goals, these policies will be changed or completely canceled, Ganev added.

According to him, the state will have to issue debt to cover financing of about 5-6 billion levs due to the deficit that will be set in the budget - between 3.5% and 4.5% of GDP.

The ambition of the participants in the coalition negotiations is to comply with the criteria related to the eurozone and the Recovery Plan, which means less than a 3% cash deficit, Ganev added. He pointed out that from an economic point of view, the most important thing is to get to the point where the restrictions against Covid-19 fall as soon as possible.

This is possible with a sufficiently large percentage of those vaccinated or with naturally acquired immunity. According to the economist from Democratic Bulgaria, this is the way to economic recovery.

During the coalition negotiations, it was discussed that the compensatory measures for the business should remain, but should be specified. The idea is to focus compensation on job retention and even on creating new ones in times of crisis. Among the priorities will be the improvement of the administrative management of compensations, so that the funds do not delay and reach the business on time.

During the consultations on the topic of finance, an agreement was reached to increase the minimum wage from BGN 650 to BGN 700, and after 2023 to determine the minimum wage as a percentage of the average wage based on NSI data from the previous year.

Ganev also said that options for increasing the public-private partnership were discussed where possible. The economist was adamant that the work of state-owned enterprises would become much more efficient if a minority stake in them were owned by private individuals. Practice has shown that this has a disciplinary effect on government. This means that part of their shares are traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

Georgi Ganev pointed out that one of the main priorities of Democratic Bulgaria is in no case to increase the tax burden, but to reduce it whenever possible - such as the introduction of tax relief for individuals, as well as a tax-free minimum within the flat tax. The amount of VAT is expected to remain unchanged.

There is an idea for the budget surpluses to be distributed by the National Assembly, and not by a decree of the Council of Ministers.

Georgi Ganev said he was optimistic about the chances of forming a coalition cabinet, and clarified that Democratic Bulgaria has not yet decided whether to participate in the future government with its ministers. If Democratic Bulgaria decides to participate with its representatives in the cabinet, it is most logical to take over the Ministry of Justice.

In conclusion, Georgi Ganev said that he personally has no ambitions for the executive, but will remain in parliament.