Bulgaria FinMin Ignorant of Losses from Contraband
Domestic | February 4, 2011, Friday // 11:57| views
Bulgaria's FinMin Simeon Djankov. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov has admitted he has no exact figures regarding losses to the state budget from smuggling.
When asked about that issue during question time in Parliament Friday by socialist MP Mihail Mikov, Djankov said that there is no statistics or official estimates about smuggling.
"This makes for a lot of speculations among the public," stated the Minister of Finance, evading the question.
He went on to point out that for instance the quantities of detained smuggled cigarettes for 2010 are vastly greater than that detained during previous years.
Djankov further praised the work of Customs Agency director Vanyo Tanov and the "reforms" instituted by him, nevertheless without quantifying how those improvements affected the state budget.
Critics claim that increased quantities of detained smuggled cigarettes are merely the effect of a humongously grown rate of contraband.
Estimates have it that some 40% of cigarettes smoked in Bulgaria are bootleg or contraband.
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