The Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) will create special financial products for farmers. Deputy prime minister and economy, investment and industry minister Alexander Pulev said they will be for young farmers, small farms and cooperatives. He spoke at a public discussion at Sofia Tech Park.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) organised the event. It presented guidelines for cooperation in the farming sector, along with a practical guide to using them.

Serious crashes happened on the Trakia motorway that morning. Institutions must stay close to the situation and act together, so almost all public events were cancelled. Pulev said the government is heavily involved in handling the crisis.

The bank's products will be tailored to farming. The aim is to let smaller farms get loans too, since they often struggle to get a bank loan on their own. Pulev said farmers have trouble getting access to free cash, to working capital (money for day-to-day costs) and to collateral (property pledged against a loan).

The deputy prime minister said cooperatives are the basis of the competitiveness of Bulgarian farming. When small producers join together, they will get funding on better terms.

The government is preparing programmes for young farmers, for farms and for shorter supply chains. It is also drawing up a long-term strategy to revive farming, on top of short-term steps to curb rising prices of basic foods. These steps are being coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the parliamentary agriculture committee and experts.

The government is working against inflation pressure on the prices of essential foods. It says it wants to protect both consumers and producers. The laws on consumer protection and on protection of competition have changed: the list of unfair trading practices is longer and more detailed, and fines for breaches are higher.

A mechanism for a so-called fair market value has also been set up. It is a recommended benchmark that flags possible oddities on the market, after which inspection bodies can act.

"We have never been in a fight with the retail chains, we are in a fight with unfair trading practices," Pulev told BTA.

He said the rules must be the same for all firms, from small Bulgarian companies to big international investors. The government will keep coordinating the institutions but will not interfere in the independence of the regulators, whose work Pulev supports.