20 April 2012 is the day when Bulgarians, figuratively speaking, stop working for the government and start working for themselves. This day is called Tax Freedom Day. In 2012 Bulgarians will need to work nearly four months only to pay their taxes and fees to the Government, thus reaching the budget’s revenue target for the year. In Bulgaria, this day traditionally is somewhere in May and its early appearance in the last 3-4 years is…
The Sofia Echo writes about a ranking of the most influential people in Bulgaria presented by the local edition of Forbes magazine. The first place was granted to the Prime Minister (GERB) Boiko Borissov, second was Tsvetan Vassilev – Corporate Commercial Bank majority shareholder. Among 30 people there was only one woman – Tsvetelina Borislavova, majority shareholder of Bulgarian American Credit Bank. More about the ranking here.
President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is paying a visit to Bulgaria on March 27, 2012, invited by the Bulgarian president Rossen Plevneliev, as The Sofia Echo writes today. There will be both talks between the presidents and between the Czech and Bulgarian delegations. A joint conference is planned to be held by Klaus and Plevneliev.The issues tackled during the talks will include political dialogue, bilateral relations, chances for trade cooperation and widely understood…
According to The Sofia Echo during a visit of Bulgarian PM Boiko Borissov to Ankara 17 documents were signed. Bulgarian government delegation headed to Turkey for the meeting of the Bulgarian-Turkish High-Level Co-operation Council. Signed documents covered a wide scope of issues, such as gas transmission, economic and military cooperation and culture. Bulgarian and Turkish Ministers of Foreign Affairs issued a joint statement expressing support for the Arab people fighting for freedom and democracy. More…
The results of BBSS Gallup’s survey from March 19, 2012 can be found in The Sofia Echo. Polls show that ruling party GERB has 30% of support while the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) would gain 18% of votes if the parliamentary elections were held now. The Sofia Echo points out that the support for the ruling party is stable in spite of controversies such as Cabinet changes, negative outcome of the European Commission report…
On March 9, 2012 Simeon Djankov, Bulgarian Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister announced that Bulgaria will repay its foreign debt using three sources of income. According to Sofia News Agency novinite.com these sources include “privatization of unnecessary State assets, short-term government securities, and mid-term 5 or 7-year Euro bonds in equal shares“. The proposal caused concerns expressed by Martin Dimitrov, member of the right-wing Blue Coalition. More about government’s proposal here.
The Institute for Market Economics publishes a report on fiscal rules, the logic behind their implementation, and history of fiscal rules in several countries. The report also presents
There have been talks, for a few months now, about introducing new and stricter fiscal rules in European Union (EU) member-states, which would help reduce the fast piling up of public debt. During the last week of January there was, at last, a public debate about the position of Bulgaria on this issue. The debate was in the form of a round table organized by the Institute for Market Economics called “Fiscal Rules – Alternatives…
