site.btaPublic Financial Inspection Agency to Carry Out Inspections at State Forestry Enterprises, Agriculture Minister Says

Agriculture and Food Minister Georgi Tahov said that the Public Financial Inspection Agency (PFIA) will begin inspections at state forestry enterprises on Tuesday. "We need to be sure why some profitable businesses like state forestry enterprises are no longer able to spend their expenses and generate enough revenue to secure their operations," the Minister said.

On Monday, following a protest by workers from state forestry and game farms, Minister Tahov and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria's (CITUB) Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Agriculture and the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour's National Federation of Agriculture and Forestry signed an agreement on an increase of funds for personnel costs starting from July 1, 2025. 

Tahov explained that state forestry enterprises are commercial companies by their nature and the procedure for indexation of employees' salaries is different and does not depend on the agriculture minister. "They have a separate board of directors and it has to be decided at the level of their board whether there is a possibility to give an increase and how much it should be," the minister explained.

He added that a request is being prepared to the Commission on Protection of Competition to investigate the users of this timber for the presence of a dominant position or the presence of cartel agreements that would suggest the low purchase price of the timber. In his words, the market is very volatile.

Tahov arrives Tuesday in the land of the town. Compound on the occasion of the official opening of a reconstructed irrigation canal.