Economy

Mass restrictions are back. As the pandemic has escalated in recent weeks, a number of countries in Europe have re-imposed closures of most public facilities and businesses. Given that we are only at the beginning of the “cold” season of the year, the horizon for clearing the current escalation in the pandemic situation is very …

Every “smart” additional dollar invested in Bulgarian healthcare could yield a return of $3.4 through a larger and healthier workforce, reduced need for care among the elderly, and increased productivity among people now approaching retirement age. Such an investment could yield a 37% drop in the overall level of …

Houston, we have a problem. Judging by all the news and statements from the government on the subject, it looks like Budget 2021 will be the most wasteful in a long, long time. The entire budget process and the discussions surrounding it are extremely puzzling to anyone with basic economic literacy. Why in …

| Full text of the analysis | | Infographics | In view of the ongoing economic crisis, resources in each of the publicly funded activities of the state are becoming scarce. Specifically for the NHIF, on the one hand, income from insurance contributions is decreasing due to the increase in unemployment, and on the other hand, income from the state budget is decreasing. Despite …

Vladislav Goranov has decided to become a lobbyist. This is the gist of the news that the former finance minister has decided to establish a consulting firm after his resignation from the GERB government. All doubts about a potential conflict of interest aside, hardly anyone can be seriously surprised by such news. Still …

Author: Stefan Boyadzhiev “Variety is life, uniformity is death.” Benjamin Constant is one of the most notable and colorful representatives of the generation of classical liberals between Montesquieu and Tocqueville. Unfortunately, to a large extent, he shares the fate of another great French thinker, Frederic Bastiat, and remains poorly recognized by future generations, which …

Author: Stanislav Kalachev On August 3, 2020, the government decided to raise civil servant salaries by 30%. The decision comes into effect at the end of the same month. This move by the government coincided with the expiration of the first ten days of my quarantine. If you are wondering what the general …

Today, Prime Minister Borissov announced a new package of economic measures to combat the crisis worth 2 billion leva, with a strong emphasis on higher healthcare spending and social spending for pensioners and the unemployed. Although these social measures are not particularly large-scale in themselves, they signal a very wrong approach …

After hundreds of sips of coffee with "sugar", Prime Minister Borisov triumphantly returned to Sofia a few days ago and declared. The Prime Minister did not hesitate to boast that the negotiations on the European Recovery Fund and the next EU Budget ended with a definite success for Bulgaria and almost personally he ...

Author: Steve Hanke Earlier this year, we witnessed a dramatic slowdown in Bulgaria’s headlong rush to abandon the leva and adopt the euro. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov sensed that Bulgarian society was not in favor of being included in the European Monetary Mechanism ERM-II. The year 1997 was both the worst and the best …