Government to take urgent measures to address rising food prices

The caretaker government is looking for ways to tackle food prices speculation in the country, said caretaker Prime Minister Gulub Donev, who attended an economic forum organized by the Economist magazine on February 6. An issue that was raised by President Rumen Radev is the continuing serious inequality in the society due to the widening gap between rich and poor.

The caretaker government will take urgent measures to tackle high food prices in the country.

"The efforts of the second caretaker government will be aimed at achieving real results in containing food prices, neutralising the underlying factors that contribute to the rising cost of living, but this is no cause for reassurance. We can hardly talk about stability and growth when the prices of basic foods are terrifying people in Bulgaria," said Gulub Donev, caretaker Prime Minister.

Tomorrow, he is convening a meeting at the Council of Ministers with the participation of ministers and heads of agencies who will provide more information on the level of speculation on the market.

"I have instructed that an analysis of the formation of prices will be made and according to the results of this analysis we will look for possible solutions to stop them rising. I want to make it clear that I do not accept the argument that prices are like this everywhere in Europe," PM said.

According to the data presented by President Rumen Radev, inequality in Bulgaria remains a serious problem.

"Inflation in the medium term is really a problem, inflation leads to deepening social stratification, Bulgarians are the people with the lowest reserves in the whole European Union - I am talking about personal household reserves," Rumen Radev said.

The President also raised another serious problem before the business community - the suspension of aid to businesses.

"You, business people, are getting used to it. It is right for the state to help - the big question is how long and how the state and the European institutions will help. The question is what happens to business and I think that will be the big problem for the future - the transition back to a market economy."

After criticising the last two parliaments for not doing enough to strengthen the economy, the President noted that the environment created by the caretaker government is much more positive for doing business in the country.