Bulgarian Employers Fall Out over Govt Debt Payments

Business | April 22, 2010, Thursday // 16:47|  views

BIA head Danev (right) has protested against the government plan to pay its debts to businesses throught the Bulgarian Development Bank. Photo by BGNES

The six major Bulgarian employers’ organizations have failed to reach an agreement over a proposed scheme for the payment of government debts owed to private companies.

At the end of March and early April 2010, the Bulgarian government decided to pay about BGN 550 M of the some BGN 1.5 B that it owes to businesses under public procurement contracts through the Bulgarian Development Bank.

However, during Thursday’s meeting of Bulgaria’s Council for Tripartite Cooperation, most of the employers’ organizations have protested because the approved government plan would reduce the sums which will be received by the businesses in question by about 7%.

One of the employers’ organizations, however, the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria chaired by Ivo Prokopiev has agreed with the government plant.

“We have protested against this plan but unfortunately one of the large business organizations supported this idea,” said Bozhidar Danev, head of the Bulgarian Industrial Association.

“We have posed the question – if the state reduces unilaterally our due payments, should we also reduce by the same percentage the sums that we owe to our subcontractors? We did not get any answer,” he elaborated.

The issue will be discussed again at the meeting of the Tripartite Council next week; Bulgarian trade unions have not expressed any position on it.

Bulgaria’s Deputy PM and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said that the government had come up with the mechanism to use the Bulgarian Development Bank to pay part of its debts as a compromise option to ensure speedy transactions.

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Tags: Tripartite Cooperation, CEIBG, Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Industrial Association, Bozhidar Danev, Bulgarian Development Bank, BDB, finance minister, Simeon Djankov

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