site.btaBulgaria's Fuel Prices Remain Lower than in Romania, Greece Despite Recent Hike - PM

Fuel prices in Bulgaria depend on the regional market and despite the recent spike, they remain lower than those in Romania and Greece, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said in response to questions from citizens and the press live on Facebook. "Anyone who looks at what prices are in Romania and Greece will see that in Bulgaria they are slightly lower than in Romania and much lower than in Greece. We cannot control prices," he said.

Two or three months ago, the price of oil on international markets was below USD 70 a barrel, and now it is USD 90, and the price of oil affects fuel prices, Denkov said.

He believes that Bulgaria could exit the derogation for using crude oil from Russia without changing fuel prices.

He warned of the risk of gloomy scenarios in the event of "abrupt changes".

The government debt-to-GDP ratio is around 20% and has remained largely unchanged.

Threats in the Black Sea

"We do not see any direct threat to Bulgarian ports. What we see is a desire to block part of the Bulgarian economic zone, which is outside the territorial waters", said Denkov. He added that Bulgaria is working with "our neighbours, Romania and Turkiye, and information has been submitted to NATO structures. An alert has been raised at the highest level about attempts to make the Black Sea a 'Russian lake', he said.

"But you respond to force with force. Bulgaria should develop its naval forces," he said. He added that Bulgaria has started buying missiles for its coast guard "so that no one dares approach our Black Sea cities".

Moving the national holiday

There are two interpretations of the significance of March 3, 1878, which is now celebrated as the Bulgarian National Day, and it does not unite Bulgarians, Denkov said. 

He has said several times already that he supports the idea of moving the national day from March 3 (the day of signing of the the Treaty of San Stefano) to May 24 (the Day of Slavic Letters and Bulgarian Culture).