site.btaEnergy Minister: Support for Businesses Aims to Curb Inflation

The package of measures to limit the impact of the crisis in the Middle East on citizens and businesses aims to prevent inflationary processes in Bulgaria, caretaker Energy Minister Traicho Traikov told Nova Television on Saturday.

He added that the funding for the measures will be provided from the State Budget, with the caretaker Government having approached the allocation of resources with a high degree of responsibility. Traikov specified that a reduction in VAT is not being discussed at this stage, as it would lead to losses for the budget amounting to billions of euros.

The Minister noted that meetings were held during the week with industry organisations and institutions to analyse possible measures, seeking a balance between their cost and the expected effect. According to him, administrative restrictions such as price caps are not effective, as they often lead to prices aligning at the maximum permitted levels.

The caretaker Energy Minister argued that the most effective measures are temporary and targeted ones. The Government’s efforts are focused on sectors with a key influence on prices – logistics, transport, agriculture, food and energy.

Traikov said that the State will compensate non-household consumers with 50% of the additional electricity costs above a certain price threshold. The assessment will be carried out on a monthly basis instead of every six months, as before, which, according to him, will allow faster reflection of the compensations in final prices.

A task force has been set up at the Council of Ministers to monitor price stability.

The caretaker Energy Minister noted that the development of the crisis in the Middle East remains uncertain, but at present there are no indications of fuel shortages that would necessitate the use of the state reserve.