Bulgarian Minister of Economy Bozhidar Lukarski gave Wednesday an interview for Radio FOCUS, commenting on burning topics and announcing some news.
"Legislative amendments will reduce by about 30% the administrative burden on business. The business will save BGN 385 million through these amendments," he said.
"This will reduce [the burden] for businesses to a great extent," the minister was explicit.
He specified there would be amendments to 16 laws, 130 regulatory acts, and 120 acts connected with European legislation.
The envisaged amendments concern the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, the Technical Requirements Towards Products Act, the Agricultural Producers Support Act, and the Carriage by Road Act.
"All of these have been coordinated with businesses and come after a signal informing of concrete regimes that are an obstacle and create an administrative burden for businesses. According to our calculations, the burden is to be cut by some 30%, which expressed in a figure will amount to BGN 385 million," Minister Lukarski commented.
He added amendments concerning other sectors were being drawn up.
The official informed communication and coordination between various institutions, between the National Revenue Agency (NRA), and the Registry Agency would be improved, which would lead to a better environment for business.
“If Bulgarian firms in the USA united in clusters, this will give them a chance to go onto such big markets,“ the minister remarked.
"Bulgarian firms attempt on their own to break into a respective market, to the aim of ensuring some small niche for itself and there is no competition for Bulgaria as regards the same thing on the same market," Lukarski added.
"This is something we should overcome as thinking as competition is what generates quality," the official was explicit.
According to him, only unifying in a cluster could make "attacking" such big markets possible.
"This is something the state attempts to do also through the SMEs agency. I think this clichй in Bulgarian business’ thinking will be changed," the minister remarked.
He specified work should be done in the direction of more seriously regulating those clusters’ activity.
"There has been such a proposal on the part of business as well," Bozhidar Lukarski stated.
“The unemployment rate has dropped by 2% since the cabinet started working,“ the government member pointed out.
“European resources will be redirected to all poorly developed regions in the country, to Northwest Bulgaria to aid the development of business and private entrepreneurship,“ Minister Lukarski commented.
“One of the things the Ministry of Economy does and I promised in my capacity of a human being is taking care of Bulgaria’s most poorly developed regions and the poorest Northwest region. I can point to the new measures and criteria for application we introduced under OP Innovations and Competitiveness 2014 – 2020. 5 extra points are envisaged for such slow-developing and poor regions such as Northwest Bulgaria in particular,“ Bozhidar Lukarski stated.
In his words, representatives of firms from the region in question the highest degree of financing is envisaged for disadvantaged regions under European programmes.