Half of the revenue from privatisation, a quarter of the budget surplus and all concession royalties would be pooled in the so called Silver Fund under a bill approved by the national council for tripartite co-operation between Government, employers and labour unions.

The fund will shore up the pension system with depopulation posing a stiff challenge for its stability. Its assets will be structured into investment portfolios that will be signed over for management to financial institutions. The fund will be run by a nine-member managing board chaired by the finance minister.

The chairperson will appoint three of the board members, while another two will be appointed by the social policy minister, who will serve as deputy chairperson of the board. The remaining three seats will go to representatives of the employer organisations, the trade unions and the National Social Security Institute.

The local business community is opposing the provisions in the bill banning the investment of its assets on the Bulgarian capital market.

Feuds over who gets to run the Silver Fund and where to get resources for its launch delayed the project for several years now. A total of 210 million leva were put in an account at the central bank account last year for the creation of the fund.

Finance minister Plamen Oresharski later said that the balance would reach 880 million leva by the end of 2008.