site.btaBulgarian Finance Ministry: Additional BGN 63 Mln to Support Farmers Following Lifting of Ban on Ukrainian Grain Imports

Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry will allocate an additional BGN 63 million to support farmers following the National Assembly’s Thursday decision to lift the ban on Ukrainian grain imports. The funding is expected to be voted on by the Cabinet next week and to be transferred to the State Fund Agriculture’s budget, the Ministry said. 

The additional support for food producers for the second half of 2022 was announced at a meeting between Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev, and livestock breeders in July when the 2023 budget was being drafted. The funding amounting to BGN 213 million was set aside in the State budget. At the meeting, some of the livestock breeders strongly opposed the extension of the ban on Ukrainian grain imports, arguing that it makes fodder more expensive, which in turn increases food prices and inflation.

In late August, a decision of the Council of Ministers concerning the State Fund Agriculture’s budget approved additional expenditures of BGN 150 million under the central budget to provide support to farmers under national measures and to compensate for the increased prices of energy, fodder, plant protection chemicals, fuels and fertilizers.

The second tranche of the aid, amounting to BGN 63 million, will be allocated because the necessary tax revenue will be guaranteed after the import ban from Ukraine is lifted. Once the Government approves the aid, the State Fund Agriculture should ensure that the aid gets to the farmers.