“Bulgaria is a financially stable and predictable country,” Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said during his presentation of a two-year report of the Cabinet’s work.

Stanishev said that the Cabinet’s policy outlined a clear tendency toward improving standard of living in Bulgaria and the dynamically developing economy.

State budget revenue in the end of June 2007 was 7.7 billion leva, an increase of nearly 18 per cent compared to 2006.

The relatively low level of consolidated state debt ensures flexible public finance, Stanishev said.

Bulgaria’s fiscal reserve exceeds seven billion leva, an increase of 1.2 billion leva compared to December 31 2006. Revenue from tax collection totalled two billion leva, an excess of 68 per cent.

Corporate tax fulfilment was 82 per cent. One of the Cabinet’s main targets is to bind lower taxes with improved tax collection, Stanishev said.

Pensions increased by more than 20 per cent in 2007 as a result of increased tax collection, especially from the corporate tax collection. The minimum pension is to become 103 leva. The increased collection was due to the decreased amount of the tax to 10 per cent, according to Stanishev.

Bulgaria ranked first in the EU for industrial growth. The growth reached 14.6 per cent on annual base in June 2007.

Foreign investment in the country registered a 40 per cent increase, compared to the first years after the collapse of the communist regime. The amount of direct foreign investment in 2007 will definitely exceed the record breaking levels of 4.105 billion leva, reached in 2006.

“Bulgaria is the most attractive country for foreign investments in the Central-Eastern Europe region,” Stanishev said.

Inflation in the country in the summer of 2007 was the highest registered over the past years for the summer season. “Inflation is higher than expected in the whole EU. (…) Practice proves that the counties with higher economic growth register the highest inflation,” the PM said.

Current account deficit reached 9.6 per cent of Bulgaria’s GDP due to factors like a rise in worldwide petrol prices and the recent drought which led to the import of fruits and vegetables, and will probably necessitate other agricultural imports.