site.btaFinance Minister Goranov: "Bulgaria Has Covered 20 Per Cent of Its Road to Eurozone"

Finance Minister Goranov: "Bulgaria Has Covered 20 Per Cent of Its Road to Eurozone"

Sofia, January 17 (BTA) - Outgoing Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said that, in his opinion, Bulgaria has covered 20 per cent of its road to the Eurozone.

Goranov was speaking at the 11th Annual Government Meets the Business Conference here on Tuesday. He is an avowed advocate of Bulgaria's rapid joining of the Eurozone. "The skepticism does not come from this country's reluctance but because of the confusion of the need of structural reforms and increasing confidence in Bulgaria with political criteria," the Finance Minister said, comparing it to BulgariaТs Schengen membership. "This road should be travelled. The current one is the right one," Goranov said, adding that such opinions are also heard from abroad.

In addition to exports and investments, domestic consumption is the largest reserve for sustainable growth, he pointed out.

"Reforms are being carried on in a way that will allow the banking system to drop out as an open issue relevant to Bulgaria's accession to the Eurozone within a year or 18 months," Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Dimiter Radev said at the meeting.

"The banking system is currently in a much better condition than it was in 2015, and both foreign and domestic insecurity pose serious challenges," he added.

Among the BNB's main tasks, Radev listed maintaining the stability of the country's monetary system. "The prudent fiscal policy needs to be continued, regardless of the political status quo. Another task is to develop a financial infrastructure that will fully meet Eurozone standards," Radev said, adding that Bulgaria's payment systems currently meet all requirements for future membership.

"It is better not to change taxation. If there is something to be done, then that is relevant only to the highest income brackets," Borislav Goutsanov of the Bulgarian Socialist Party said. "Keeping the 10 per cent tax rate is the best at the moment, and consideration should be given to the highest annual incomes, exceeding 120,000-140,000 or 150,000 leva."

Delyan Dobrev of GERB put forward what he considers two consensual ideas that could be backed by the political forces: shifting the administrative burden from business to the administrative, and developing the capital market.

Martin Dimitrov of the Reformist Bloc insisted that megalomaniac projects that can degrade the country's rating should not be allowed and warned that even a private investor will not cover all costs of the construction of the Belene N-plant.