Bulgarian PM extols country’s economic development at 2018 Plovdiv Economic Forum
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov used a lengthy opening address to the Plovdiv Economic Forum on June 21 to portray his country’s improving economic development and stable outlook.
“We have more than six per cent growth in exports, and that is in innovative technologies and machine-building. Plant after plant is appearing,” Borissov told the forum.
“If we have to measure politicians by something, it is how much GDP they can organise in their countries and how much it is distributed per capita,” he said.
His government did not run the country on the basis of “the wild populism that has covered the world, including Bulgaria,” Borissov said. He said that the positives were undoubted facts.
Bulgaria’s annual GDP growth had been a steady 3.9 to four per cent in the past few years, he said.
“The latest surveys show one thing: stability. What Bulgaria has at present is a stable outlook, with a 10 per cent flat tax and 20 per cent VAT, which is perfect for investors. This will continue for as long as we are in power,” Borissov said.
Unemployment in Bulgaria was less than six per cent, and in some places there was a shortage of labour because some “do not want to work,” he said.
Borissov dwelt on his signature message, the development of infrastructure, pledging to improve the infrastructure in Bulgaria further.
“Try to imagine, how from Plovdiv, you go along the Struma (Motorway) to Thessaloniki in a few hours. There are wonderful places for investors, wonderful places to develop plants, to expand production, tourism, natural resources and the energy sphere. Transmission of electricity, transmission of gas. What more could business want?”
The first Plovdiv Economic Forum, which continues on June 22, is being held in co-operation with the Delphi Economic Forum and the Centre for Liberal Strategies, in association with the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the Italian Chamber of Commerce, Confindustria Bulgaria and the Hellenic Business Council in Bulgaria.
