site.btaFinance Minister Vassilev Highlights His Ministry's Priorities

At a news conference Friday, two days after outgoing Prime Minister handed the resignation of his Government to allow a Cabinet rotation with GERB-UDF, outgoing Finance Minister Assen Vassilev reported the performance of his Ministry.

He singled out two clear priorities of the Finance Ministry.

The first is for Bulgaria to join the euro area in 2025, he said and added that this will improve the country's institutional framework, reduce costs for businesses and people, and allow the flow of investment to increase significantly.

The second strategic priority is to continue its policy, based on two pillars - to grow incomes ahead of inflation, two to three times faster, and to help businesses to make the necessary investments so that incomes can be protected through improving labour productivity, Vassilev noted. He pointed out that achieving these goals with a 3% budged deficit is complicated.

Vassilev also highlighted his Ministry’s short-term priorities. The Finance Ministry usually plays a supporting role for many of the things that happen in the country, he noted. Vassilev gave the example of the work of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and decisions taken by the Fund.

“We are working extremely well with the NHIF at the moment. Yesterday, the NHIF adopted a measure that will allow to significantly reduce the payments for key medicines that are mainly used by the elderly,” Vassilev said. He said that this will allow all these patients to pay less, be able to take their medicines regularly and not miss out because they do not have the funds, and will also have a positive effect in reducing inflation.

The second measure in the short term, in which the Ministry of Finance plays a supportive role, is the transport connectivity between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. “We are working very actively with our colleagues from Greece and we expect soon to have an intergovernmental agreement on economic cooperation, which will cover a broad aspect of activities and which will deepen our ties with Greece, in a way that supports both countries, “ Vassilev said.