Finance Minister Simeon Djankov told a news conference after a Council of Ministers meeting that the government discussed a package of short-term measures for economic recovery and submitted them to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The anti-crisis package consists of 82 short-term measures, which remain open to suggestions by the MPs, Djankov said. The government will adopt the measures at its next meeting. They include 32 measures approved by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) on Tuesday.

The short-term measures span nine months, to be followed by measures which have been elaborated as part of the cabinet program, which will be unveiled in a few weeks.

The measures fall into eight sections. The section on Stability of the Macroeconomic System envisages maintaining a balanced budget in 2009 and stepping up work for joining the pre-euro Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-2).

The section on Stability of the Financial System plans for a 15 per cent cut in ineffective expenditures in the structures of the national budget; retaining the 20 per cent VAT rate; and ensuring two-way access between the information systems of the Customs Agency and the National Revenue Agency.

There are also measures intended to improve the business environment, to step up agricultural production, to encourage employment and social assistance, to develop a knowledge economy, and to effectively manage EU money, Djankov said.

The measures detail the infrastructure projects to be implemented during those nine months, such as rehabilitation and electrification of the Plovdiv-Svilengrad railway. The document is the first to include analysis of environmental infrastructure projects.

The 32 measures approved by the NCTC include two-thirds of all suggestions of the trade unions and employers organizations, Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov said.

These measures include development of a standard national information system

for offering jobs and seeking employment at the Employment Agency; compensation of loss of income at part-time work; and increasing the maximum amount of guaranteed receivables for workers and employees in case of employer bankruptcy. Further efforts will focus on the measures on which the NCTC did not reach consensus.

Every ministry has sectoral councils for tripartite cooperation which are drafting urgent anti-crisis measures at the level of industries and sectors. Regional councils on tripartite cooperation are also drawing up anti-crisis measures.

Mladenov said he would call two advisory councils next week to discuss pension reform and the prospects for development of the pension model, and labour force qualifications. Mladenov said supply and demand in the labour market were now at odds.

Source: BTA