Bulgarian politicians do not understand economics, business leaders say
Bulgarian politicians do not understand economics and would have difficulty in proposing solutions to end the crisis, according to the head of an employers association and the head of the country’s banks association.
Ognyan Donev, chairperson of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria and Association of Commercial Banks head Levon Hampartzoumian, were speaking in an interview with public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television.
In Bulgarian politics, being knowledgeable about economics was not a criterion for success, Donev said. If given a test about the economy’s structure, most politicians would not be able to answer simple question, Donev said.
He said that parties were dragged into other matters and issues as important as job creation were handled through the prism of slogans.
“None of the political parties out there has the critical mass of experts knowledgeable in economics,” Hampartzoumian said. He said that the major challenge for the forthcoming government would be to replace public relations with action.
He said that investors needed to see an improved business environment, as well as transparent and efficient state administration and judiciary.
A day earlier, in an interview published by mass-circulation daily Trud, economist Ventseslav Dimitrov was quoted as saying that Bulgaria’s political parties did not have good economists.
“I see no comprehensive economic programmes in the parties standing in the elections. A platform is a commitment to voters and should therefore be feasible. It should be prepared by experts who know what is possible and what not. The parties with a chance to make it to Parliament are sending to debates only people I cannot trust: builders, philosophers, lawyers, underqualified party functionaries, anybody but good economists. The GERB team does not have a single qualified macroecomist and the Bulgarian Socialist Party has only one,” Dimitrov said.
(Photo: Marco Michelini/sxc.hu)
