"We will end the half-year period with a small surplus," Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski predicted in Bourgas. Oresharski tops the list of parliamentary candidates of Coalition for Bulgaria in Bourgas. "We will be the first European country which has not entered the deficit zone by the middle of the year," he said.

According to the Minister, financial stability will help Bulgaria come out of the crisis more easily. The availability of reserves will make it possible to preserve the status of retired people, who react most strongly to the term "surplus", he said.

"This will be the first in 60 years when the world economy will register negative growth. Recovery will be a relatively slow and difficult process, but I do not think that it will last 10 years," Oresharski commented.

In Bulgaria, thanks to the prudent fiscal policy, recovery may be relatively painless. As early as at the end of last year, the Government made an ambitious anticrisis plan, he said.

According to Oresharski, a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund is unnecessary. "If we want to enter the Eurozone quickly, we had better show sustainability and independence in dealing with the situation," he said. A government should be formed immediately after the upcoming elections, so that the next fiscal year is prepared as soon as possible, Oresharski said.

Source: BTA