This article is a summary of our new analysis and proposal for reform of the drug policy in Bulgaria. What did we find out? The analysis covers 56% of health-insured persons and 40% of the funds reimbursed by the NHIF and includes 4 groups of diseases: cardiovascular, malignant tumors, diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid. In 2016, over 2.5 million health-insured …
More »Urban planning policy in Sofia: Recommendations for reform
| Full text of the report | In recent years, urban planning issues in Sofia have become a particularly topical and politically heated topic in the public sphere. Our new report aims to present our vision of the reforms that urban planning policy in Sofia needs in order to improve its quality …
More »What are the benefits of abolishing corporate tax in Bulgaria?
(This article is a summary of the ECT proposal to abolish corporate tax on retained earnings in Bulgaria and the analysis of the potential effects of such a reform. The full text of the report on the topic can be read here.) In recent years, the debate on corporate tax, its optimal level and the resulting …
More »Analysis of the proposed amendments to the Gambling Act and the discussion surrounding them
| Full text of the analysis | In recent months, the issue of the regulation of the gambling sector in Bulgaria, and more specifically lottery games, has emerged as an unexpectedly topical and hot topic in the public sphere. The specific reason for the rise of this topic were the proposals of the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Bulgarian National Federation of Gambling Associations, Valeri Simeonov, for the full …
More »Why Bulgaria Shouldn't Adopt the Euro? (Analysis)
| Full text of the analysis | In recent months, Bulgaria's potential entry into the Eurozone has once again become one of the most discussed topics in the public sphere. What is remarkable, however, is that this case has become not so much a topic of debate as a topic of...sermon. A sermon by politicians from …
More »What is "Pension Reform for the Young" and why is it needed?
|Full text of the analysis| The state pillar of the pension system in Bulgaria is in a state of practical bankruptcy. The situation is so critical that for working Bulgarians, who are currently in their 30s or 20s, most likely there simply will not be money to pay their pensions when …
More »When the "honor of the epaulette" replaced the "health of the nation"
Yesterday we angered the Minister of the Interior Valentin Radev. He was offended that we took data that is freely available from the website of the Ministry of the Interior and told it to the public. The reason was the "Analysis of Bulgarian Drug Policy 2009-2016" that we published. The information "undermines the authority of the Ministry of the Interior", he said and sullenly scolded us for not ...
More »Reform for more accessible and cheaper medicines in Bulgaria
|Full text of the analysis| Summary and conclusions from the analysis of the sartan group: The results of this study confirm the conclusions of previous analyses, such as the World Bank's 2015 analysis, as well as good practices from EU countries, and quantify the positive effects of implementing a progeneric policy within the framework of …
More »Is Ivan Kostov wrong about the currency board?
We at EKIP are honored to publish a fundamental critical analysis by economist Georgi Ganev of the acclaimed "Plan B in the Currency Board Discussion" by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Kostov. In this "plan", Kostov practically proposes that the currency board in Bulgaria be dismantled, even though it was created precisely at the beginning of its own …
More »Signal to the EC regarding the restriction of cash payments
| Full text of the opinion | Dear readers, as you know from the EQUIP, we are strictly monitoring and opposing the attempts of the Ministry of Finance to push through yet another restriction on cash payments by reducing the allowable limit for such transactions to a maximum of 5,000 leva - a proposal that is part of a draft law...
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EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion