There is a possibility that Bulgaria could request nearly 200 million euros more for the fourth payment under the PVU - that is, instead of 900 million euros, 1 billion and 100 million euros could be requested. This was said by Acting Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski in the "Interview" on BNT.
"Deputy Prime Minister Nedina and the government are in intensive negotiations with the European Commission and since Minister Yankulov submitted for consideration a new law to restore the Anti-Corruption Commission, the European Commission is inclined to transfer these 200 million euros, which were withheld from the second payment for the CPC, as a possible amount to the fourth payment and if the 52nd National Assembly now adopts this bill that Minister Yankulov will submit, then in fact the entire amount of the fourth payment may even be 1 billion and 100 million euros, said the Finance Minister.
According to Klisurski, the deadline initially announced by the caretaker cabinet for the new National Assembly to re-establish an anti-corruption body on May 8 may be extended until the end of May. In short, it depends on the new National Assembly how much of the money under the PVP will be saved, the minister added.
Georgi Klisurski explained that the proposal to transfer 1 billion and 400 million euros from the Bulgarian Development Bank back to the budget is because the bank apparently has no concept of how to use these funds so far. The process of reducing the capital requires technological time, he added.
"Accordingly, the state can assess, increase or reduce the bank's capital as it sees fit. By the way, even after the current reduction of the BDB's capital, it will again have twice as much capital as it did last year at this time. So we leave the BDB for development in an exceptionally good liquidity position and yet we manage to secure 1 billion and 400 million leva for the state budget again", said the minister.
Regarding the cabinet's measures against high prices, Klisurski described them as effective.
"The aid that we already paid out in April of 20 euros for the most needy individuals, I think is an effective measure, since it manages to compensate individuals...if they fill up, for example, up to 100 liters per month, compared to the prices that were before March, they could now fill up relatively the same amount. These 20 euros are actually 13-14 liters of gasoline. That's right, yes. And the good thing in my opinion, which is also important to say, is that this aid is aimed only at the most needy", he concluded.