No multinational will be lining up to take tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac off the hands of the Bulgarian Government, given the current excise policy that encourages the production of cheap cigarettes, Peter Imre, head of corporate affairs at tobacco heavyweight Philip Morris, said on July 31 2008.

The company executive declined to say if Philip Morris had any concrete plans regarding the Bulgartabac sell-off. He said that he had not seen a ready strategy for the privatisation of the company.

Imre confirmed that he had met with officials at the Bulgarian Finance Ministry, but did not say what the meetings were about.

For 2008, Bulgaria has decided to levy an indirect tax of 37 leva per 1000 cigarettes plus 35 per cent of the retail price.

Bulgarian weekly newspaper Kapital  reported that executives from Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco met earlier this month with Bulgarian Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov to express their interest in the Sofia and Blagoevgrad cigarette factories.

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