📋 Tender Overview
The Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova-Zheleva initiated and held successive meetings today with representatives of employer organizations municipalities and trade unions. Their main goal is to present in detail the priorities in the work of the Ministry of Finance in the next few months and to carry out a fruitful dialogue and effective partnership with business local authorities and trade union organizations.Minister Velkova indicated as a task of primary importance for the Ministry of Finance to fulfill its commitments regarding the preparation and holding of the extraordinary elections for national representatives. Another urgent task is the implementation of the 2022 budget and the provision of liquidity to finance expenditures so as to achieve the fiscal goals voted in the updated budget law for this year stressed the Acting Minister of Finance. The main cost pressure is expected to be in the months of November and December said Minister Velkova during her meeting with employers organizations in Bulgaria.She added that work is underway to receive the first payment under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan under which BGN 2.6 billion is expected and will be announced at the end of August. It is expected that these funds will be received by the end of November. Actions are being taken to respond to the energy crisis providing compensation for the high prices of natural gas and electricity. The Ministry of Finance continues the work on preparing our country for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Eurozone.The meeting was attended by representatives of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce - Union of Bulgarian Business the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria and the Union for Business Initiative. They asked questions related to the energy crisis and the natural gas supply crisis the compensation mechanism the indexation of contracts and the predictability of the environment. They expressed their concerns related to the delay in the expected funds under the PVU the delay in the infrastructure projects the size of the fiscal reserve etc.During the second of the series of meetings the Minister of Finance and the representatives of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria discussed the organizational and technical preparation for the election day as well as the current problems of the Bulgarian municipalities related to the supply of gas and the prices of energy carriers. Minister Velkova explained the MoFs plans to prepare a basic budget in fulfillment of the approved budget procedure for 2023. For her part the executive director of the NSORB Silvia Georgieva added that in the draft budget the Association will emphasize the equalization subsidy which until now has traditionally been with the shortest stature. Among the topics discussed were possible changes to be included in the package of tax laws that the Ministry of Finance prepares every year.Minister Velkova familiarized the representatives of the KNSB and KT Podkrepa with the work on the implementation of the budget for 2022. Analyses are being carried out on the implementation of revenues with the emphasis being on the reflection of the reduced tax rates from the beginning of July. For the time being there is no need to update the budget for this year as we expect to fulfill the set revenues for this year stressed the finance minister. Among the other topics discussed during the meeting were the possibilities of increasing the minimum wage compensations for non-domestic consumers of electricity and the steps to introduce the euro in Bulgaria.
