site.btaFiscal Council Chair Djankov Backs Budget Extension Bill, Flags Possible Tax Rises

Fiscal Council Chair Simeon Djankov said the caretaker government should submit a budget extension bill, calling it standard procedure, on Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Saturday.

He also backed caretaker Minister of Finance Georgi Klisurski’s plan to submit a second budget extension bill, saying it was better than rushing to draft a full annual budget.

Djankov said that if the National Assembly did not pass the second budget extension bill, the Public Finance Act provided for the automatic application of one-twelfth of last year’s budget each month. He added that a problem would arise in June because the Act did not provide for a third consecutive extension, but said he hoped Bulgaria would have a regular government by then to pass a new budget.

Djankov said the next regular government would need to raise some taxes and suggested a neat way to top up the State coffers would be to tax banks’ high profits.

On the funding for the upcoming elections, Djankov said money could be found by requiring retirement for all State administration employees who had already reached retirement age and by cutting their staff posts.

Djankov also addressed Klisurski’s other priority, the fair distribution of funds earmarked for municipalities. He noted that the National Assembly had already set out those funds and the caretaker government had no power to change them at its own discretion.

Djankov also drew attention to high electricity bills in January, saying the Commission for Consumer Protection and the Commission for Protection of Competition should take part in the checks.

On Friday, caretaker Energy Minister Traicho Traikov called on the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) to provide full information and a clear timeline for completing investigations into complaints about high electricity bills. EWRC received around 2,200 such complaints by Friday, nearly double the 1,200 reported previously.