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Fri, Feb 10 2012
Bulgaria's currency board architect says corruption still biggest problem
Corruption remained the biggest problem that Bulgaria's economy faced, the architect of the country's currency board agreement told Bulgarian national radio (BNR) on May 5.
"Corruption is Bulgaria's biggest problem, it is the area where my advice has not been heeded," Steve Hanke said.
Hanke, who was a senior economist on the council of economic advisors to US president Ronald Reagan, drafted the currency board agreement Bulgaria adopted in 1997, after a banking crisis wiped out billions in savings and shattered the country's financial services sector. Under the currency board agreement, the Bulgarian lev was pegged to the German mark and then the euro.
"My recommendations on flat tax, fiscal control and economic deregulation have all been implemented. Corruption and organised crime, however, remain the Achilles' heel of Bulgaria's economy," Hanke said.
Hanke said that the performance of Bulgaria's economy in 2009 was more likely to fall in the variation band forecast by the Bulgarian National Bank, which last week estimated that the country's economy would shrink by no more than two per cent this year and could grow by as much as 0.6 per cent, rather than the more pessimistic scenario of the International Monetary Fund, which said it expected Bulgaria's gross domestic product to contract by as much as three per cent this year.
"Corruption is Bulgaria's biggest problem, it is the area where my advice has not been heeded," Steve Hanke said.
Hanke, who was a senior economist on the council of economic advisors to US president Ronald Reagan, drafted the currency board agreement Bulgaria adopted in 1997, after a banking crisis wiped out billions in savings and shattered the country's financial services sector. Under the currency board agreement, the Bulgarian lev was pegged to the German mark and then the euro.
"My recommendations on flat tax, fiscal control and economic deregulation have all been implemented. Corruption and organised crime, however, remain the Achilles' heel of Bulgaria's economy," Hanke said.
Hanke said that the performance of Bulgaria's economy in 2009 was more likely to fall in the variation band forecast by the Bulgarian National Bank, which last week estimated that the country's economy would shrink by no more than two per cent this year and could grow by as much as 0.6 per cent, rather than the more pessimistic scenario of the International Monetary Fund, which said it expected Bulgaria's gross domestic product to contract by as much as three per cent this year.
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Bg has been always corrupted and it always will be until greed and power hunger exists. I am glad I don't live there!!!!!
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained не е по темата на статията
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
CORRECTION
Every country has corruption but in most other EU states they are a lot more secretive/subtle about it. For example, the Cash For Hounours scandal in the UK. In However Bulgaria the entire population seems to accept coruption as the norm - this is what needs to change. There is no point in Bulgarians (Ivaylo) getting defensive - this will not help. We need to talk about it more and more until it starts to change. The young Bulgarians need to push out the old mentality.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
Keep up the pressure
Ivaylo is right, there is a noticeable anti-bulgaria media bias and it's pervasive. The hypocrisy is outrageous, especially considering that a lot of the so-called "western" "developed" countries are much more corrupt than Bulgaria ever was or still is.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
It is only the misguidedly patriotic who would dispute that corruption is not a major problem, no other sane person would. It is, however, curious, that there seems to be an impeccable bias against Bulgaria in this case. Italy, not too far on the continent, is far from being a paragon of an organised society free from corruption and organised crime and the epitome of good governance. Yet how often does it receive attention in this regard? How often does the Italian government get reminded on its poor record it this case? Can it fairly and equitably be asserted that [...]
Read the full comment Italy is free of Mafia activities and that the tentacles of corruption do not reach the top tiers of, at least, the executive and legislature? One should be slow to assume bias against a country, but when facts speak, as the Romans said, even the gods keep silent. It is hard not to infer that, for some odd reason, and despite two decades subsequent to the end of the Cold War, and the abandonment of, at any rate, a Kremlin-imposed regime of little sympathy amongst ordinary Bulgarians and a grotesque ideology, mystical little Bulgaria is still seen as an old foe and thus fair prey. Surely the vie victis (bewoe the vanquished) approach adopted by high-minded critics ought to apply fairly to all member states of the EU. Surely the issue must be addressed at the very core therein. Surely it is productive to single out the evil of corruption as a problem, and then consistently fight it indiscriminately. But surely also it is unfair to set the sights on the small guy. The problem is that arguments based on fairness and equity have never cut it amongst the powerful, and it is unlikely that the nature and the dynamics of power would change. It is the duty, however, of a gentleman to speak truth to power.
"Corruption is Bulgaria's biggest problem, it is the area where my advice has not been heeded," Steve Hanke said.
Let me from India say: What can corruption do, or how long can it continue in Bulgaria, a tiny country of decent population?
Can you make a comment on the corruption in the largest democracy -- and one of the earliest civilizations -- in the world that has produced the Slumdog?
Kuruvilla M U
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained