We will not interfere with the companies – we will pay on time! I am optimistic about 2014. –

/View.info/ We will encourage the birth of children, a new reduction in electricity prices is not advisable for our energy system.
We will not interfere with the companies – we will pay on time for public procurements, Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski is categorical.

– Mr. Prime Minister, we experienced a fatal year of division. What will be the new situation for Bulgaria – another one of survival or of being pushed off the bottom?

– The confrontation of the last four years has produced its negative result – our society is fragmented and disintegrated to a dangerous degree. I hope that next year we will feel the first effects of the changed economic and social policies and that a process of normalization will start. I expect the opposition parties to continue the aggressive campaign against the government, but I do not think that the majority of Bulgarians support the stimulated destructive processes and street forms of opposition.

– What is the implementation of the budget at the end of the year? Have the planned revenues been collected and what is the budget deficit?

– The preliminary data are not bad at all. The rate of revenue defaults has narrowed significantly from mid-year forecasts. More importantly, virtually all VAT due has been recovered. If we make an analytical account of the VAT undeclared found in the middle of the year, the amount of reduction in the balance of the undeclared VAT significantly exceeds the revenue default. That is, if we hadn’t normalized the VAT refund process, we would have overfilled the revenue. I expect the consolidated budget deficit to remain within the statutory limit of 2%, probably slightly below it.

– Both BSP and DPS put their priorities in the 2014 budget. What are yours?

– We will continue the implementation of the management program – promotion of economic activity, improvement of public services, further construction and strengthening of social networks. In addition, everyone perceives the actions of others through the lens of their own thinking and behavior. There are elections in each of the next four years. Therefore, all subsequent budgets will be announced by the opposition as pre-election!

– Last year was deflationary – low prices, reduced consumption. Do you expect people to have more money this year to fight deflation?

– Economically, deflation is even more dangerous than inflation. There are all the prerequisites for a certain economic recovery to be felt in 2014. But let’s not forget that economic systems are highly inertial and big changes cannot be expected in a short time, that is, let’s maintain moderate optimism. Because the slow recovery of investments is based on two factors – objective and subjective. The objective is the deteriorated external environment, and the subjective is the economic and financial policy conducted in the period from 2009 to the middle of this year. We can add a new one to them – the aspiration of the opposition forces to present our country to the world as politically and socially unstable. See the arguments of “Standard end PoorТs” for the correction of the outlook for our credit rating – weak economic growth for the entire period after the crisis of 2010-2012 and political instability. Amazingly, at these arguments, the previous rulers fell into a wild ecstasy, which cooled down after the same rating agency downgraded the rating of the European Commission.

– What is your message to businesses – investments or deposits?

– Naturally – investments with a careful assessment of the degree of recovery of the local and foreign markets.

– In 2013, business massively bet on exports. What are the new markets for domestic producers, for which the state will help?

– We are making efforts to expand the possibilities of exporting to third countries by expanding the sales offices outside the European countries. I expect exports and investment to lead the projected economic growth, however modest in numbers it may be.

– How will you stimulate microeconomics?

– By ceasing to hinder the business, by paying on time the public procurements executed by it and promptly returning the VAT owed to it. One example in this direction is the fact that next year the budget starts “clean” with regard to the non-returned VAT – for the first time since 2009.

– What did you not have time for in the past year?

– For the past period, we stopped the centralized administrative-force pressure on business. We accelerated state payments to companies. We are making attempts to restore the institutional culture of communication between institutions. We have prepared a number of improvements in the legal and regulatory framework in the direction of more effective competition, smaller administrative burdens, clearer and simpler rules, more reliable consumer protection, better collection of budget revenues. For illustration, in the middle of the year the revenue agencies of the Ministry of Finance estimated the probable non-fulfillment of revenues at around BGN 1 billion. Today, the picture is significantly more optimistic and the extent of this default is visibly smaller. In parallel, we strengthened the social emphasis of the policies. There was no time left for many targeted activities. Significant reservations still remained regarding the collection of budget revenues. Structural adjustments are yet to be implemented in the main public spheres.

– Is there a contradiction between Prime Minister Oresharski and the man Oresharski on the issue of refugees?

– I think the contradiction is different – between the humanism towards these people, on the one hand, and the possibilities of our country to take its share in solidarity from the point of view of both financial resources and national security.

– Do you think that the “South Stream” project will contribute to achieving greater economic growth than planned for 2014, and what exactly will be the role of the cabinet in the project?

– The more active role of the EC will support the coordination of the positions of the countries that build the gas pipeline on their territory. We already have commitments from the Russian side that the gas pipeline will be operated in accordance with Bulgarian and European legislation.

– Is a new reduction in the price of electricity really possible?

– It is possible, but after the last reduction it is not advisable for the sustainability of the energy system. I draw your attention to the fact that the reduction in the price of electricity was made after the elections, and not before the next one!

– Where will you direct the social reform this year?

– We will continue the policy of promoting the birth rate and raising children. And not because of this or the next election, but because of the deteriorating demographic structure, i.e. to have someone to vote after time.

– Packages are being prepared with changes in the banking sector due to the so-called fast loans and anti-monopoly legislation. However, is there a risk to these systems?

– What is being said on the streets? The stability of the banking system was tested and stood the test of time. Remember how in 2008 and 2009 I predicted that we are not threatened by a financial crisis like we are seeing in the US and some old European countries. Then there were also various rumors, but it is a fact that we remained among the few European countries that did not spend a single lev of public funds to rescue or capitalize banks. Look, I know very well the logic of some of our opposition leaders, according to whom the worse the better. I do not think that Bulgarian citizens want their leaders to profess this principle.

– Will family income taxation be introduced?

– The introduction of a system where the tax paid on the minimum wage is returned to the taxpayers, renders any further tax preferences meaningless. After all the tax paid on the lowest incomes is refunded, what else can we give back to low income taxpayers. They receive child benefit – the equivalent of negative tax. Thus, the commitment from the program is practically fulfilled, insofar as family income taxation is considered in direct relation to the relief of low incomes.

– With the “Wonders of Bulgaria” campaign, “Standard” was able to show what cultural and historical heritage Bulgaria has and how Bulgarians can be united. What is the miracle of Bulgaria in your opinion?

– Congratulations on the wonderful initiative. In this aspect, I am thinking not only of Tsari Mali, a town near Belchin – the miracle of Bulgaria for this year, but also of the wealth of historical sights that rank us at the top, at least in Europe. The fact that Bulgaria has had it for so many centuries and during such turbulent historical periods obliges us even more to work for our future.