site.btaFight against Contraband Yields Lv 820 Mln in Additional Public Revenues So Far This Year

Fight against Contraband Yields Lv 820 Mln in Additional Public Revenues So Far This Year

Sofia, March 25 (BTA) - Public revenues collected so far in 2015
 increased by 820 million leva compared with the like period of
2014, which is due to the government's unswerving efforts
against contraband, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told the
Council of Ministers' weekly meeting on Wednesday, as quoted by
the Cabinet's Press Service.

Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov told the meeting that a
balanced budget is yet to be achieved, but efforts are being
made "to win back the territory of the government and get
everyone to realize that it pays to make revenue-based policies
rather than expenditure-based policies."

This has convinced international investors to trust Bulgaria,
and on Thursday there will be a 3.1 billion euro settlement with
 the Bulgarian government, Goranov said. After this money is
credited to government accounts on Thursday, the very next day
1.5 billion euro will be restored to the Bulgarian Deposit
Insurance Fund, leaving 1.6 billion euro to the government to
use as a cushion, Goranov said.

Any revenue overperformance helps to reduce the government
deficit projected for 2015, the Finance Minister said.

Prime Minister Borissov said that the additional revenues will
be immediately used to disburse welfare payments, such as
holiday bonuses to pensioners. He thanked the Finance Minister
and his team for the results they have achieved and praised the
law enforcement and prosecution authorities for their effective
fight against contraband and fraud.

Borissov said that making up for the budget deficit will be the
main concern this year, and then next year any additional public
 revenues can be spent on health care, defence, the police,
welfare, landslide reinforcement, and railways.

He said the National Electricity Company (NEK) should begin to
make profit, because it is an outrage for it to incur billions
of leva in debt. NEK should stop buying expensive electricity
from heating plants, Borissov said.