All companies with a staff of more than 100 people to pay the salaries of their employees only by bank transfer. This obligation was introduced by the deputies with the adoption of the second reading of texts from the state budget. They made an exception only for seasonal agricultural workers.
The Finance Ministry’s initial proposal was for companies employing 50 people. But when adopting the texts, the deputies decided that the number of employees would be over 100.
Finance Minister Asen Vasilev explained that the purpose of such payment of salaries is to bring the economy to light.
The BSP and “Vazrazhdane” opposed the proposal on the grounds that there are no ATMs in small towns and villages, and in addition, fees are paid for banking services. The leftist Dragomir Stoynev pointed out that cash withdrawals in banks have become more expensive, as well as interbank operations.
“Opening an account has increased from BGN 2.50 to BGN 3.15, and issuing a bank card is also charged,” he said.
According to him, the profits of the banks are becoming huge and uncontrollable.
“And until the Minister of Finance finds a solution to this issue, this text should not be entered,” urged Stoynev.
He cites data according to which the banks’ profits for the first four months of the year are over BGN 1 billion, mainly from fees and commissions.
Hristo Prodanov from BSP commented that most banks are not Bulgarian and export their profits abroad.
Nastamir Ananiev from PP-DB commented that all operations can be done online, thus the fees are cheaper.
“Online banking is cheaper, but I really hope that your grandmother will be able to make online transfers, to be able to pay her bill via the Internet, but this is not the current state of the country,” replied Dragomir Stoynev.
Tsoncho Ganev from “Vazrazhdane” explained that there are no ATMs in many places.
He cited BNB data, according to which the number of ATMs fell by 273 compared to the previous year. The reason for this was that it was expensive for the banks to maintain the devices.
“The trend predicted by the BNB is for ATMs to decrease, because they cost them money, and at the same time they earn from fees and commissions,” Ganev jumped.
Asen Vasilev explained that no fee will be deducted for these payments during the transfer.
