Finance minister and deputy prime minister Galab Donev told public broadcaster BNT that measures against high prices will start showing results in October and November. He admitted that price gouging has not yet been brought under control, but said the euro is not to blame for high prices.
"The euro as a currency is not to blame," Donev said. He said prices in Bulgaria are being pushed up by outside factors — the international situation and pricier oil and gas — as well as by domestic causes. Even if prices do not fall, the minister said, the pace of price rises will slow down.
Donev said the state will take on new debt of 2.25bn euros. The money will go toward payments under the recovery and resilience plan, to keep finances stable, to fund EU projects and programmes, and to pay pensions and wages until the end of the year.
The debt is needed because of the budget deficit, which the minister said is the result of policies from before the current government. The deficit stood at 7.4% at the start of its term, was then brought down to 5.7%, and now stands at 2.8%.
He said the budget's biggest costs pile up in the last quarter of the year, when building and other projects wrap up. The aim, Donev said, is to stop bills spilling over into next year.
The windfall tax stays, and the money it brings in is already written into the budget. Donev sees no conflict between that tax and progressive taxation.
Homemade rakia will not be banned, either for making it or for personal use, he said. Donev explained that the ban on selling it in shops is meant to stop "rakia of doubtful quality" from reaching the market.
Gambling ads will be banned outright. "A total ban on advertising. The only ads will be at sports events, on team kits, in sports halls," Donev said. Billboards on the streets will disappear, and the lit-up signs on gambling halls will go dark. The minister said the change is meant to help prevent gambling addiction, not to raise more money for the budget.