Bulgarian FinMin Contradicts PM, Vows Anti-Nudist Reforms

Finance | October 28, 2010, Thursday // 18:33|  views

A nudist enjoys the sea and the sun at Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgarian Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov stated that the crisis is a prime time for reforms, contradicting the earlier position of PM Boyko Borisov.

"In Latin America they have a proverb: When the tide is low you can see who's swimming without pants. At a time of crisis it is just like that - there is less money and you can see which institutions are not reformed enough, which ones don't work well, and so - where you need some kind of reform," said Djankov at Thursday's discussion of the draft for state budget 2011 in Parliament.

His statement was made in reply to criticism of rightist Blue Coalition, which has this far been supportive of the GERB cabinet, but which has lately claimed that the government has relinquished its earlier commitment to reforms.

In the past days, PM Boyko Borisov has been replying to that accusation by stating that reforms can't be done at a time of crisis.

At the parliamentary discussions Thursday Blue Coalition co-leader Martin Dimitrov reiterated the rightists' worries and in particular drew attention to dangers for greater deficit than the forecasts of about 2.5% of GDP for 2011.

Representatives of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party such as ex-finmin Plamen Oresharski expressed concern at what they saw the perfunctory nature of the debate of the upcoming budget, which they saw as alarming given that a number of key budgeting issues have not been cleared to date.

They strongly disagreed with the estimates of the Ministry of Finance, most importantly with the GDP growth predicted and the optimistic boost of export. Oresharski also questioned the policy of emitting long term 15-year bonds, which are more expensive to the state than short-term bonds.

Ex-Minister of Economy and Energy from the Socialist Party Petar Dimitrov spiced his criticism with a joke. "There was an old socialist slogan: With firm steps will overcome capitalism! And our wise people created the joke: Don't overcome them, lest they see our naked asses." He called to the GERB cabinet to reveal some real governmental success and not only naked body parts.

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Tags: Simeon Djankov, Plamen Oresharski, Martin Dimitrov, GERB cabinet, Bulgarian Socialist Party, Blue Coalition, Bulgarian Parliament, budget 2011

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