INTERVIEWS

Bulgaria has demonstrated that change in three and a half years is possible, Rosen Plevneliev tells CNBC

In the long term, Bulgaria will adopt the single European currency, but before this can happen it will carefully monitor developments in the euro area, President Rosen Plevneliev told US television network CNBC in an interview. The President was a guest of the prestigious media in New York, where he is on a working visit to participate in the 67th session of the UNGA. President Plevneliev said that he supported EU integration efforts to overcome the crisis. But he was adamant that it was time for more tangible results. “I'm a pro-European president, and I believe that the next phase of European integration is ahead. To emerge from the crisis, Europe must have a plan and stick to it,” the President said. The President told the business television channel that Bulgaria has a 10 per cent personal income tax rate, with corporate taxes at the same rate, and the lower tax rates have increased revenue collection. Thus, the country has produced an example of efficiency, President Plevneliev said.

The President told CNBC that Bulgaria remains stable in the region, with extremely low public debt of only about 16 per cent of GDP, or about five billion euro. The country has improved its position in the global ranking on competitiveness and despite the ongoing crisis has recorded economic growth in the range of 1.2-1.3 per cent, the President said.

He said that Bulgaria was still lagging behind in growth in income from wages and pensions, but he was adamant that this should flow from soundly-motivated and clear sources of financing. The President said that it was important to answer the question of where these funds would come from and that they would not be at the expense of new debt. “We redistribute as much we produce, not as much as we like,” the President said, predicting that Bulgaria’s ability to make difficult decisions and to proceed with reforms would restore market and investor confidence.

In three and a half years, Bulgaria has become one of three EU countries with the lowest rate of error in the absorption of EU funds, President Plevneliev told CNBC. This happened after managers were appointed in government who were young people, 33 to 35 years old, who are focused on increasing the transparency of major infrastructure projects. Summing up, the President told CNBC that change is possible in three and a half years and Bulgaria is a good example of this.