President Radev proposed the government to set 9% VAT on the price of bread

How we cope with the economic crisis depends on the price of bread, President Rumen Radev said on February 18. He visited the bread baking plant in Dobrich today as part of his tour of the country.

Radev called on the government to listen to the people who produce bread.

"It is very important to have a dialogue with the government and to take urgent measures. They are not only related to direct financial aid and are comprehensive in nature, not everything is about money. It is also about how to actively fight the gray economy," he said.

The debate and decisions on the differentiated VAT rates have been delayed, the President added, but stressed that he did not want to interfere in the government's decisions. He said a differentiated rate and 9% VAT on the price of bread was a strategic decision.

"It is critically important that the government establishes a good dialogue with the big retail chains and that there is protection for the Bulgarian producer, because at the moment this period of 45 days to wait for these people to be paid and at the same time to pay in advance for the energy carriers puts them in an impossible situation," Radev said.

The differentiated rates should not be carried out by groups of goods, but by strategic sectors - for Bulgaria these are agriculture, bread baking, livestock breeding, and the production of Bulgarian meat and dairy products, the President stressed.

"Only Bulgaria and Denmark have a flat rate on everything, with few exceptions," he added.