Bulgaria FinMin: Payments to Businesses under Way

Bulgaria's financial minister Simeon Djankov became notorious for delaying payments to businesses and state agencies in order to reduce budget deficit. Photo by EPA/BGNES.

Bulgaria's financial minister Simeon Djankov stated that payments of money owed by the state to businesses is being conducted according to schedule and there is no delay, reports BGNES.

The state has paid arrears to around 300 firms, 400 other requests are currently being processed, according to Djankov, who spoke after a high-level meeting between government and businesses Monday.

In the beginning of 2010 the Bulgarian government admitted of delaying considerable amounts payments to businesses in order to keep a looming budget deficit in check. Among other things, this provoked recent disagreement on the part of Eurostat on Bulgarian budgeting methods.

Monday Djankov assured that the payment of arrears is proceeding as negotiated.

He also shared that during today's meeting he has learned that the government must have a closer involvement with municipal authorities in order to start a radical reform in them. The goal is improvement of the business climate in Bulgaria's regions.

Djankov added that he is working on ways to fund small municipalities, which are expected to be hit hard by cuts in state spending as per the proposed revision of the state 2010 budget.

Minister Djankov also commented on ongoing reforms in state administration, saying that it is “either too late or too early” to merge ministries. Nevertheless he added that optimization is still underway.